Summer Avalon
by Niana Kuonji
Summary: Yes, it's the third arc to my Season Stories! There's a new youkai for the Reikai Tantei to chase, and he's on a very specific :and desperate: mission. Find out what it is on the new 'episode' of Yu Yu Hakusho!
1. Default Chapter

Okay, okay, due to popular demand I'm starting this out way earlier than I honestly meant to, so don't be surprised if it gets revised like a sonnuva youkai, okay? Here it is, the prologue to the third of my Season Tales, Summer Avalon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the distance of my vision

There stands a stranger all alone.

Who balances against 'forever'

A carved and polished marble stone.

Their hair is long and black as sinning,

In their eyes are suns of gold.

Bent long with the weight of searching

Until the very hells grow cold.

"Stop him!" The fugitive glances back over his shoulder, wind of his flight sending strands of ink-black hair across his face and into the almond-shaped metallic eyes. A fanged grin parts chapped lips, teeth yellow with neglect, and he pumps his legs harder in his sprint down the hallways.

The ones behind him are known as the Goon Squad, so-called because every member of said squad is a member of the race called 'goons'. In the current day they could be known as trolls--heavy torso with long arms supporting massive hands, equally massive legs jointed and furred like jackals. They're faster than one might expect from their build, but even so they are unable to keep up with the fleeing criminal.

"Halt! In the name of Reikai and King Enma!"

"Like hell I'll stop," the runner growls in response to that particular hail as he bursts out of a side door and races across rocky terrain. "I've got somewhere else to be." His lungs fill with appreciation for the first fresh air he's breathed in nearly four centuries, authorities scattering before the force of his passage. He's built a near-solid wall of air before him, very close to breaking the sound barrier in his mad dash for freedom.

The high cliff guarding the edge of the territory claimed by the Palace of Reikai, King Enma and his toddler son, looms less than a mile away. His feet never slow, though he'll reach it in a mere second or two, even with a black blur abruptly beside him and easily keeping pace.

Gold eyes meet garnet ones--the escapee recognizes Hiei Jaganshi, one of the worst criminals in the history of the three worlds, now an unwilling employee to the child-prince. The fire apparition stops at the edge, but with a jubilant howl and a triumphant grin at the startled Hiei, the black fox flings himself into space.

----

_"Remember! I'll look for you, I swear it! Don't forget the--"_

_"Damn you, Avalon!"_

With a strangled gasp the dreamer awakens, floundering out of her bedding's embrace as the dream--nightmare!--shatters once again at the furious shout. It's been almost a week since she turned seventeen and the dreams have been coming nightly, making her fear sleep and what it brings. It's made rest scarce, and she is exhausted.

With cinnamon eyes sore and red from weeping in phantom pain, she looks up out the window to where the waxing moon hangs in the sky above nearby trees, throwing everything into high relief. A glance over at her alarm clock reveals '3:42' in calm blue light.

She groans as she once more sinks into her pillows, wanting nothing more than one decent night's sleep. As oblivion once more swallows her worn consciousness, she prays to whoever's listening that the dream will not be having an encore tonight.

----

"What's the report, Hiei?"

"An apparent suicide but the Goons haven't found a body yet. I would assume he's fled to the Ningenkai in an attempt to hide. It's a movement popular with foxes these days."

"Indeed. All right, Hiei, there's your mission for now. Please perform it with your usual efficiency."

"Hn. So I am to play hide-and-seek with a petty criminal, is that it?"

"Don't underestimate him, Hiei. The 'ragged Avalon' in no petty criminal. He's almost on par with your Kasai personae."

"Hn. I highly doubt that."

"Hiei, please, just go. This is causing me a massive load of paperwork and I need to get through it before dawn."

"So be it, Koenma. Enjoy your stamping."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There we go! PS. Bokuden, try emailing me the address or put spaces in it, else I'll never get it. Reviews are a bitch that way. Now lemme alone so I can write! n,.,n--! Death-threats are welcome (they make me feel loved!) but ignored.


	2. Chapter One: A Hounded Fox

Depending on whether I feel like it or not, I may include a synopsis of the series for this story, since one of my friends-who, believe it or not, is also an author on this site (Legacy of Cain, I think) told me that the main reason she doesn't read my fics is because I always write like you lovely readers actually have a clue who the characters are. Since I, as a general rule, am starved for praise when it comes to my writings and drawings, I tend to listen to such sage advice as that. So expect a synopsis to pop up eventually somewhere. Meanwhile, if you do like LoC, check out my friend's fics. I think her author name is Seer de Draggon or somesuch.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Feeling like a deer in the old time Kings' forests, the owner of a pair of rich violet eyes peeks over the roof-access shelter's own tiny roof in fear of the small crowd of girls gathered below him. "Where'd he go?" one cries frantically.

"Aw, he got away."

"But I wanted to get his signature in my autograph book! Someone so gorgeous just _has_ to be a prince or something!"

"He's not gorgeous, he's _dreamy_."

"Anybody get his name?"

"No," several chorus, all of them drooping. "He's new."

"Wouldja get lost, ya bunch of nutcases?" This voice is acidic, ill-tempered, and male, coming from around the corner of the shelter. As one the girls freeze, like any creature caught in car headlights, before quickly retreating back into the school with frightened squeals. "Geez, wake a guy outta some perfectly good winks. Hey, moron, get down from there, wouldja? Spam-for-brains like you'd probably fall or somethin'."

A slender young man standing about 5' 6" jumps lightly down to the main roof's warm cement, peering around the corner to discover his rescuer slouched on the ground in a classic nap pose. A young man about his height and age smirks up at him with chocolate brown eyes, his short raven hair slicked back with some kind of styling gel. Instead of the blue jumper the boys here at Sarayashiki High are supposed to wear, this guy is wearing a grass-green one.

The previously-napping young man takes a quick second to assess the poor sap unfortunate enough to have attracted a fanclub on what's obviously his first day here. He'd already noted the height, but it's the large violet eyes that get his attention the most, half-hidden behind messy wet-ink bangs, the stuff so shining and thick a braid would probably be as fat as either boy's wrist. Besides his bangs, the rest of his shoulder-length locks are caught up in a careless ponytail with a simple hair-tie.

_Damn,_ the punk chuckles to himself, _looks like Kurama's finally got some competition in the 'bishie' department. Wonder if this kid's brains are as good as his looks. Real pretty-boy, this guy._

"Hey, thanks for the rescue," the New Guy says gratefully. "Those girls chased me clear across campus. I'm Haru Shinkai."

"Yusuke Urameshi. Perhaps you've heard of me."

A muffled snort as Haru leans against Yusuke's wall, grinning. "Che, who hasn't? I never heard of you before today but boy did I get an earful while I was running for my life. Only people who can stay around you for long without getting flattened are Keiko Yukimura and Kazuma Kuwabara, and bets are on for that guy."

"Eh, only when Kuwabara does somethin' stupid." Yusuke just gives Haru one of his infamous cocky-as-hell grins and makes as though to resume his nap. "Speakin' of Keiko, do me a favor and keep an eye out for her, will ya? I'm tryin' to get in a catnap 'fore she hauls me back off to class or somethin'."

"Sure. Who is she, anyway?" the new student asks as he leans both shoulders against the warm concrete, soaking up the early summer sun.

Yusuke's grin turns slightly goofy. "She's my fiancée. Class President and a real bookworm, but she's got a heart of gold and a _wicked_ right hook. Don't meet many girls like that nowadays, do ya?"

A full laugh this time, rich but edged with melancholy. Yusuke cracks an eye open but only sees pure amusement on Haru's face. "I suppose not."

Yusuke stretches with a content groan before rising to his feet and slinging a companionable arm around Haru's shoulders. "Come on, ya poor unlucky bastard, I'll keep those scary fangirls away and show ya around while I'm at it. You're new here; I know, 'cause I ain't seen you around before five minutes ago. If I let ya get mobbed, you'll never learn where anything but good hiding spots are—I'll show ya those, too."

"Your help's really appreciated, Urameshi-san."

"Nah, just call me Yusuke, 'kay? Only guy who calls me by my last name is Kuwabara. He hates gettin' called by his first name so if ya wanna pick a fight with him there's a good place to start."

Haru is laughing pretty hard by the time the two young men make it down the stairs, other students staring at the apparently-unharmed new kid messing around with the scariest guy on campus. Messing around, that is, until an angry female voice cuts over the usual student chatter.

"YUSUKE URAMESHI!"

"Aw, crap," the doomed teen groans, ducking behind Haru and backing them both towards the stairs in obvious retreat. "It's Keiko fightin' mad. Hide me, quick!"

A petite girl with hair and eyes nearly the same chocolate brown as Yusuke's frantic eyes stomps up, battle-aura practically sparking in her wrath. "How many times do I have to tell you not to skip class, Yusuke?"

"That…is Keiko-san?" Haru asks his new friend, twisting his head around to look Yusuke in the face as he jerks a thumb towards the approaching death-sentence. "You don't do her justice, Yusuke."

"Eh?" The rage disappears, leaving a regular girl blinking back. Her hand flies to her mouth in dismay as her cheeks turn pink. "Omigosh, I'm sorry! I wasn't yelling at_ you_! It's just…Oh, you're the new student, aren't you? Haru Shinkai, right?"

"Hai. Yusuke told me about you. Keiko-san: class president and rare find."

Keiko's blush deepens and she smiles past Haru at Yusuke, scuffing his foot on the linoleum in his 'aw-shucks' act. "Aw, Yusuke…" Then her face darkens. "But compliments still won't get you out of class! Now come on before Iwamoto-sensei has another reason to dislike you further!"

"But Keiko," Yusuke protests, pouncing on Haru and grinning weakly, "I promised Haru I'd show him around! Besides," he adds in a whisper to the dismayed excuse blinking at him with his violet eyes, "It ain't possible for Iwamoto to hate my guts any further. If he did he'd choke."

Keiko frowns when Haru's eyes cross as he attempts to restrain from laughing, certain that something has just been said at either her or Iwamoto-sensei's expense. The newbie notices and waves a hand at her. "Nothing about you, Keiko-san! Yusuke was just telling me about a Chemistry incident, right, Yusuke?"

"Right!" The relieved Yusuke starts pushing his savior down the hall, waving with one hand at Keiko. "I promise I'll be in class later, Keiko! See ya later!"

"Yusuke—!"

The brown-eyed boy breathes a sigh of relief as they turn a corner with no sign of Keiko following. "Geez, that was close! Ya really saved my ass back there, Haru."

"No problem, Yusuke, just a little payback. Now we're even." Yusuke blinks for a moment at the grinning newbie, startled, then starts laughing as the two walk down the hallway, clapping Haru on the shoulder as they go.

——

Poke, poke. "Zephyr. Psst, Zephyr! Wake up!"

"Miss Uotani!" The sleeper awakes with a jolt, gazing up with terrified eyes into the stern face of Mr. Iwamoto. "Enjoy your nap, Miss Uotani?"

"S-s-s-sensei!" She can feel her face heating up horribly while the students around her snicker among themselves at her plight. Except for her friend, the sweet and utterly loyal Eri Amazuki. "Um—! Um…"

"Miss Uotani, this is the third time this week you've fallen asleep during class. See me in my office after school."

"Hai, sensei!"

"Ah, here we go," a male voice says from the door as an obvious punk strolls in with another young man, one of the handsomest any of the girls in the class have seen. "Yo, Iwamoto, got a new student here for ya to torture. This here's Haru Shinkai."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," the young man tells the slightly-mollified teacher with a polite bow. "Yusuke-san here has been kind enough to show me around campus as well as my classes. I'm sorry we're a little late, but this place is rather large."

"All right," the man—_Built like a foot-ball player, geez!_ thinks Haru in surprise—replies gruffly. "But keep hanging out with rotten apples like Urameshi and you can kiss your school career goodbye. Have a seat over by…Miss Uotani. See if you can do a better job than Miss Amazuki at keeping her awake. Urameshi, get your ass into your chair before I slap you with a week's worth of detention."

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke tells him sullenly, slouching over to drop into his chair right next to a quietly steaming Keiko. "Whatever you say."

Haru just seethes inwardly at the disregard this teacher is showing to the already-humiliated girl's feelings, hunched in chair with the obvious wish that she could just disappear. So he decides to see if he can perk her up a bit. As he sits down, he gives her the kindest smile he can muster and a polite bow of his head. "Hi, I'm Haru," he murmurs as the class settles back down from the interruption. "Sorry about adding insult to injury just now. Friends?"

She just stares at him with wide cinnamon eyes, another blush staining her cheeks bright pink.

"Now, class, if there are no further interruptions—" the teacher and the punk just glare sullenly at each other, "—turn to page ninety-seven and read the second paragraph aloud...Miss Uotani."

"Hai!" Over by the window, Yusuke stares out at the beckoning blue skies as the silver-haired girl stands and begins to read in a clear, precise voice, the blush disappearing from her face.

—

"Miss Uotani," Mr. Iwamoto sighs as the girl slips into his office after the final bell, the setting sun visible through the window behind his desk, "what is going on? For the past week you've been acting like a zombie, falling asleep in class, missing assignments, being late. You've even fallen asleep in PE, for goodness' sake. Are things all right at home?"

Yusuke would be surprised at the kindness in this teacher's voice. Mr. Iwamoto only shows a dark side to the poorer students—punks and those like Yusuke receive only harsh criticism and verbal abuse from this man. But to good, honest teens Mr. Iwamoto shows a somewhat more caring attitude.

Zephyr Uotani blushes and ducks her head, smiling bashfully. "Hai," she mumbles in a voice unlike the one she'd used during reading. "Everything's fine at home. I just haven't been sleeping well lately, that's all. I'll try my best not to disappoint everyone."

"Just don't overdo it," the gruff man tells her in a relatively-gentle voice, gesturing that she can leave. "We want you to succeed, not kill yourself. Now go on home and take a nap. And try to avoid those fangirls on your way out, they're still hunting for that Shinkai boy and I have the feeling you're on their hit list."

"Hai, sensei." Meekly, she slips out as quietly as she had come in, a faint smile on her face for the small joke the stoic teacher had actually cracked.

——

It's late evening now, the stars shining above the quieting suburban neighborhoods and the growing noise of the entertainment district as it gears up for another night of neon, music, booze and carnal pleasure—for a price. Haru Shinkai sits on the access shelter's roof at Sarayashiki, idly kicking air as he savors each and every breath.

"I'd almost forgotten what real air tastes like," he sighs, finger-combing hair that had been cut and washed for the first time in roughly a century just last night. Or really early this morning, depending on how you looked at it. Again he runs his tongue over teeth that had been bleached back into gleaming white at the same time.

A pair of silky black ears swivel to catch each and every sound that the small breeze brings him, wondering at the leaps that human-kind has made in the time of his incarceration. He stretches with careful deliberation, reveling in the new freedom at the motions: for as long as he'd gone unwashed—his nose wrinkles with disgust at the thought—his arms and legs had gone shackled with heavy iron warded so heavily he'd barely had the strength to breathe, his youki sucked away to the heart of Reikai Palace.

It had taken him the last fifteen years to hoard away enough strength to break free of his bonds and escape—that run had taken a lot more out of him than he really cares to admit—and even now he still feels weak. Practically a sitting duck which makes him wonder why the hell he's sitting up here in the open…

"You know, you _used_ to be a lot better at hiding your energies," a serene voice informs him before amending, "what little energies you have left, anyhow."

The black fox stiffens, prepared to flee as he slowly turns around to face his…friend. The tension pours out of him as he grins weakly at the pale woman standing on the concrete behind him just as her dragon wings vanish in a flicker of platinum dust. "Aislin-sama. Inari, but I don't need any more scares like that in my lifetime."

The ice-fox steps forward with a slight smile, pushing one of her wine-red streaks behind her pointed ear with the rest of her snowy hair. "Sorry, Obsidian, but when someone I thought dead escapes from Reikai Mid Security with a strength of C-class at best and comes into my city I like to know why. For that matter, how."

"I'm surprised the Jaganshi isn't here yet," comes the resigned reply.

"Aren't I?" The black fox springs away, landing on top of the chain-link fence at the edge of the main roof, fully ready to run for his life as a black figure materializes beside the annoyed Aislin.

"Hiei, you idiot, don't scare the poor boy. Gods only knows he's been through enough shit without you making him jump clear out of his skin." Turquoise eyes turn to the shivering form balanced perfectly on the fence, the breeze blowing from behind and shrouding all of his face but those glowing golden eyes that gaze at them both so warily. Her eyes soften and she glides down to the main roof, carefully approaching the edgy fox with her arms upraised and open. "Obsidian-kun, it's all right. I've got Hiei on a strict leash, I promise. Come down?"

Hiei remains on the access shelter's roof while a shivering fox slowly climbs down to kneel before a sorrowful Aislin, the fire apparition staring into empty space. "Pathetic excuse for a fox-thief," is his only comment. Obsidian flinches as though struck, Aislin shooting her soul-sib a dark glance that promises future pain as she kneels before the fugitive.

One hand tilts Obsidian's chin up, turquoise capturing gold in a warm gaze. "Winsome kit, little cub, what are you doing here?"

Two hard swallows before the answer is whispered. "I'm looking. I'm looking for my sister Ivory."

The fire apparition's garnet eyes involuntarily soften at this response as he mindsends his soul-mirror, _/He's certainly a lot more like us than I expected, Kikan-chan. We each had similar Truths, once./_

_/Now do you see why I wanted you to be here when I asked him/_ Aislin replies absently in the same manner. The fox before her is trying hard to keep himself from crumbling before his friend and mentor, but both elementals can see his emotional walls failing quickly. _/He'd have to have a very good reason to do what he's done—Yoko and I trained him to have _ethics_ as well as honor and deft fingers./_

Aloud, the koorime questions gently, "But why here, winsome kit?" Her nickname for him, centuries past. "This is the Human World, not ours." Deep concern blooms as Obsidian loses his fight, curling into a little ball at her feet as his shoulders shake with choked sobs. Immediately she drops to her knees beside him, arms going around his shoulders in a gesture of comfort. "Obsidian? Obsidian, what's wrong? Speak to me, kit, that's a direct order."

In a voice filled with old pain, the ragged Avalon relates his tale.

————

flashback

————

Music, laughter, the calls from numbers of booth-owners crying their wares or games. Happy chatter from swirling crowds in the growing town, celebrating its first decade tonight. Among the crowd weaves a pair of young foxes, no more than twenty years old at best, barely reaching the height of most human nine-year-olds. The boy is dressed in a tan yukata patterned with bamboo—his sister wears an identical one the color of new willow leaves. Both wear amber colored obis, from which are hung matching fox masks.

The pair drift from booth to booth, making sure to visit the crepes-seller and the gold-fish game, coming away with two small fish that are red-on-white scaled living jewels. To any casual observer, they are simply what they appear to be; littermates wandering around by themselves before their dam calls them to heel.

To any of the Makai's shadowed world, however, the two show a very different face. Each is alert, scanning their surroundings constantly, occasionally lingering on some careless festival-goer with his coinpurse in plain view. They avoid anyone who resembles authority—the watchfolk, for instance—keeping their faces averted or laughing while holding their toy masks up while making silly pantomimes. These two don't want their faces recognized.

And with good reason: these kits are the proteges of the Winter Rose and the Silver Thief, Queen and King of Thieves. To catch this pair is to lure the biggest prizes from hiding.

However, thoughts such as these are dissolved when the kits catch sight of a fortune-teller's tent, the well-kept but low-key sapphire canvas marked only by a few simple runes. Instantly they are just a couple of younglings searching for adventure, as they trot eagerly to the robed figure merely standing before the opening.

That shadowed hood tilts down as the pair approaches, nodding as one sleeved arm gestures the pair in. The tent's interior is well-lit by a few glass-water lamps, scented with citrus incense rather than the smoky, dim place the kits had obviously been expecting.

"Well, well, if it isn't the young Avalons," the seer says in a sexless, dry voice. The pair freeze, staring up at him/her/it with crimson and golden eyes. "Peace, kits, I care not for deeds done or being done. My bailiwick is the future, specifically, reading it. Not predicting it as some charlatans claim for themselves, no. I tell you what I see, for what I see takes the shape of a book's pages, and it is from those that I read. Still care to hear?"

"Yes!" they tell him/her/it enthusiastically, won again into relative ease by the youkai's disregard to law-folk. With a laugh as dry as the voice, the seer shoos them to a heavy oak table set in the middle of the tent. Directing them to place their left hands palm-up on the carved and decorated surface, the seer pricks first their palms, then his/her/its own once the robed being has taken a place across from them.

The lamps blow out as power is raised, the darkness relieved by the glowing designs cut into the table-top, infusing the small pools of blood cupped in hands with the same moon-silver-blue light. The interior of the hood is thrown into sharp relief; an androgynous face with the almond, slitted eyes of a neko youkai gazes impassively into space, the orbs moving as if something truly is being read.

"For ten times ten years the pair of you will be parted by that which no mortal can stand against, and there shall be no Avalon to haunt the hoards of the wicked and unjust. The final year is yours to search and solve the riddle of the curse laid upon you. If you fail, if the twain stay unraveled or the solution unsolved, then forever shall the curse remain and you shall stay seeking, sought after, yet unfound. So I see, and so it begins. Tonight."

The sigils flare once, then return to darkness, the lamp-flames slowly peeking out from the safety of their wicks. The seer dashes the blood out of his/her/its hand, grasping the thin wrists of the pair and pulling them towards the rear of the tent. "Out the back," is the quiet command. "Trouble comes on swift feet, and no good is in it for any of us—worst of all for you. Flee this place quickly, children, for I know you value each other's lives!"

Now thoroughly terrified by the grim voice warning of doom, the younglings squirm from beneath a loose flap and do as they are bid. They run.

Right into a territorial war-zone.

Festival-goers scream as youki-blasts are sent scattering into booths and crowds, the sources of them all being the two bands of scum-bag mercenaries, the Frozen Souls and the Searing Claws. Bitter rivals in everything, the small armies have chosen this place to finish their three-century grudge, with the knowledge that whoever wins takes this place as their base; this prosperous, peaceful town.

There's no more peace—it's all been shattered, and caught in the middle of it are the Avalon cubs. The little vixen is bawling as her brother pulls her frantically along, his dark head filled only with the thought of reaching the edge of town and the safety of the Makai forest. Forgotten are the watch-men, now firing their own bolts of energy as they gather their scattered senses and numbers.

Forgotten are the trinkets now lying trampled in mud and body fluids, the shiny things the kits had been contemplating the quiet relocation of just minutes before. Forgotten are the foods, the games—but not the bag of goldfish he still carries with his free hand and as much care as he can muster.

Nor is his training—or hers, as the vixen's sobs are quickly swallowed and she begins to help her brother avoid the pockets of fighting, weaving in and out of buildings' shadows, always towards the goal of trees. Trees are a fox's friend as are all the other plants of the Makai. For while a fox may pass a Death Tree unassaulted the same cannot be said for any other but those who are born of earth.

Their escape is curtailed as members of both warring factions become aware of the quiet shadows slipping around danger like eels, and, scenting a better challenge than most of the towns-youkai and easier pickings than their enemies, give chase.

Cautious sprints give way to full-blown running, the goldfish still being cradled carefully in one hand with his sister's fingers entwined with his own, the faster young male lending the vixen additional speed as they try to break away from the sadistic people pursuing them. The names of their heroes are called aloud in shrill voices a number of times before breath is saved for running.

The kits cut back through an alley, skirting another pocket of fighting and dodging numerous energy-bolts sent sizzling their way, ducking ice-balls, rocks, flames and electricity, all manifestations of the bloodlines in the youkai fighting.

The male finds them a dark corner that the fighting hasn't reached yet, the sounds of screaming still loud in their ears as they huddle together, the fish—jounced but still very much alive—sheltered in the bowl of their laps. The noises of battle grow louder—reinforcements for the law-abiders have arrived in the form of Koenma's troops, the more powerful arrivals quickly laying into the Souls and Claws with everything they have.

"Don't worry, Ivory-chan," the boy whispers to the trembling female compacted against him, peering around her head to gauge their chances of fleeing. "I won't let—" BOOM! Both younglings go flying, the buildings they had been hiding against shattered by several loose bolts hitting all at once.

The boy is instantly up on his feet, hand clamping onto the slash bleeding freely on his cheek beneath his eye as he frantically searches for his sister. There! His golden eyes find her just as another pure-bolt is sent slamming off-course.

Straight into her.

"NOOO!" The raven-haired boy scrambles over debris and body alike, ignoring the fact that he claws through both merc and law-man alike in his desperate need to get to his sibling. Koenma's troops are helping the law-men mop up the last of the thoroughly-flattened low-lifes, turning their attention towards the people still panicking around them.

The only difference between the boy they see sobbing over the still body of a silver vixen is the fact that both the children's faces are on wanted posters in the headquarters in Reikai. With a surprisingly large bounty attached to each.

The boy cries as he kneels by his sister, hands limp in his lap as tears pour down his face, his eyes snapping open at the weak, "Ob…si..dian?"

He looks down to find glazed ruby eyes gazing back up at him, one hand uncurling from her stomach. Protected from the devastating blast, the two small goldfish swim dizzily in their small space. "Look…I saved…the pretties."

His hand locks around her wrist, eyes pleading as he cradles her face with the other hand, ignoring the fact that there are law-men approaching him with pity in their eyes. "Ivory, please! Please don't leave me!"

"I…won't. It's…okay, brother."

"No, no it's not! I'll get you back to the Lair, Koshou can fix everything! Please, Ivory, _don't leave me_!" He fights off hands the grab at his arms and shoulders, try to pry his hand away from the cooling wrist he clutches. When he's finally yanked away, he grabs the bag of fish and snarls at anyone who tries to take them. He strains back towards the small body lying among the rubble, eyes fading into a cloudy rose. "Remember! I'll look for you, I swear it! Don't forget the—"

"Damn, you, Avalon! Just come quietly!"

"IVORY!"

———

end flashback

———

Obsidian kneels with his arms wrapped around his teacher for all the world as though she is his sole link to fraying sanity. She in turn has her head cradled against his own, murmuring soothing sounds in Kitsune as she runs her fingers through his hair, gazing sadly off into space.

Hiei still remains where he was, up on the shelter roof, but his eyes hold only pity for the poor wretch weeping with quiet force into a white-clad shoulder. Even the fire apparition had known, thanks to his Jagan, that his own sister had been safe for virtually all the thousand years she, he, and Aislin had been alive. Even when he hadn't known that he _had_ a sister.

This kit did not even have that to comfort him in the times of awakening and dreaming. The two elementals can guess the rest of the story—upon seeing his sister dead, the cub would have given up and had gone with the enforcers with little more struggle, to be locked in a small stone room for nearly a hundred years with no one that cared about him within reach. Hiei doubts they let him keep the fish.

As the sounds of nightlife in full swing drift to the ears of the trio, Obsidian's storm of grief quiets to frequent hiccups, the fox pulling away enough to swipe at his face with a uniform sleeve, smearing off flesh-colored powder that covers a thin scar on his cheek. Aislin tsks and produces a handkerchief from one loose sleeve, dabbing at reddened eyes and handing it to him with a wry smile.

"I should hope you know what to do with that, kit." Obediently the young fox blows his nose and folds the square of cloth into a compact ball that gets tucked into a hip pocket. She always made them carry around at least one of the things so they wouldn't have to resort to their clothes.

Aislin nods approvingly, then sobers. "I arrived less than ten minutes after that fight ended, but I only found Ivory-chan. I tried tracking you, but all the damned shots they'd been firing made it impossible when one threw in all the blood spilled. I'm so sorry, Obsidian. If I'd known, you would never have spent a night there."

Faintly, "How'd you find out?"

She glances back at the once-more expressionless dark form standing above them. "Hiei told me when Koenma gave him the assignment of recapturing you. He also kept me from bringing the palace down around that damned toddler's ears. I was so _furious_; one of my people being held practically under my nose and I didn't know about it?" A deep breath that is exhaled just as sharply before she looks back down at the black fox.

"Now what, Aislin-sama?"

"Now, we help you find your sister."

"'We', snowflake?"

The glare she shoots Hiei is nothing short of murderous. "Yes. _We_. Got a problem with that, porcupine head?"

A snort. "My assignment was to recapture the boy. Not aid him."

"I never thought I'd see the day when the Jaganshi was following the orders of the toddler," comes the quiet mutter from the fox keeping his eyes on the roof asphalt. The fire apparition is quick to correct the boy's mistake.

"I don't follow the orders of Koenma. I follow the Spirit Detective that managed to beat me with a strength one could barely register, the human boy Yusuke Urameshi. He's the one that said I should, quote, 'see if I couldn't dig you out of your hole'. End quote."

Obsidian looks over to Aislin for confirmation, confusion and disbelief clear. "Yusuke-san is the Spirit Detective?"

"So you've met the boy," Aislin chuckles. "Not quite what one would expect for a 'good-guy', is he?" When her student solemnly shakes his head, she laughs outright, pulling the youngster to his feet as she stands. "That was my opinion, too. I expected someone like Mizu to be his next choice after the Sensui disaster, not another Yuuki Miyami."

"Hn. All of them were annoying."

"That's very true. So, my winsome kit," she addresses the black fox before her with quiet cheer, "have you any ideas of where to start looking?"

"I figured," the Avalon replies softly, "that since everything involving the other worlds is centering around here, that maybe she came here too. I only got here this morning, so I haven't had time to search properly." The fox fidgets, toying with his messy ponytail as he stares down at the roof's cement.

"Things have only been heating up around here since Yusuke became a Detective," Hiei scorns. "It's only been three years since the boy and his idiot friend became Koenma's lackeys."

Aislin growls and darts out her hand. Hiei winces as his earlobe is pinched and held between her strong fingers, his head getting hauled to the side as his soul-sib hisses at him, "Hiei, how many times do I have to tell you? Hope is a very fragile thing. It's not nice to break it."

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Let go of my ear, ikeike!"

"Kisama!"

"Wow. So you two really _are_ like this all the time with each other," the young fox wonders aloud, staring at them. Oh, sure, Yoko had told he and his sister stories about the legendary 'spats' these two would get into that would eventually lead up to someone—sometimes the combatants, sometimes not—shedding some blood, but how believable could that be? Fighting but still sibling close? Ivory and he had _never_ drawn blood or even scratched at each other in their entire lives; until they'd made it to the Lair their philosophy had been 'us against the world'. Afterwards it had been 'all of us against the world and whatever Aislin-sama and Yoko-sama say.'

But now, seeing for himself, the black fox has no choice but to believe that his beloved teacher is fully willing and perfectly able (_that_ part he'd always believed 'cause no one's stronger than _her_) to take the dangerous fire apparition down a few dozen pegs.

The two pause with Aislin still in firm possession of Hiei's ear, the dark male glaring at the staring boy from a very awkward angle. In unison the pair shrugs, though Hiei's is rather more constrained due to said death-grip. "Pretty much, winsome kit," Aislin tells him, finally letting her soul-sib have his ear back in one piece.

"I think…I might just have been safer in jail."

Rubbing at his ear, Hiei advances on the fox with his free hand moving for the katana that one rarely sees him without. "I could correct that problem…"

WHAM! The young Avalon steps adroitly to one side as Hiei crumples to his knees, arms cradling his head as several very inventive curse words manage to make it past his clenched teeth. They mostly seem to relate to Aislin's temper and conception, and what anatomical impossibilities she could go do with herself. The ice-fox, meanwhile, lowers the booted foot that had nailed Hiei on the back of his spiky head, fury radiating in her turquoise eyes.

"Obsidian is one of _my_ people, Hiei Jaganshi! Lay one finger on him with intent to harm—and I count Koenma's prison as harm!—and you'll find out just how fucking scary I get! You got me?"

Hiei continues to mutter more possible bloodlines for the female as Obsidian kneels down, the absolute picture of a child confidante. "And she gets reeeeaaally scary, Jaganshi-san," he whispers from behind a cupped hand.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

And now for my expected review responses...'cause you all know you love seeing your name in print! n,.,n

**Kitsune Kit**: Why, the fourth story, of course. As soon as I finish this one and figure out what the blazes I'm going to write said fourth story on.

**KuramaIsFine**: Always did like your name. Thanks for the support, I shall try to live up to your expectations.

**Magus784**: I have such loyal reviewers, you, Kit, and KIF always review for my chapters. You all get pocky! (showers it on everyone)

**Arano Honou: **o.O A new reviewer! And skittles! Skittles are always good. (munches happily) And I meant my threat over on your stories! You don't update, I don't either! How's _that_ for incentive? 'n,.,n'

**Asilin** **Kheldarson**: I'm writing, I'm writing!


	3. Chapter Two: Zombie Mode

Yeppers, it's chapter two, ready to be enjoyed by all you lucky readers! I spaced out last chapter which is why the review responses were all on the bottom, but this time I remembered so they'll be up on top like normal. Let's get cracking! (pops are heard then a snap) Iite…that was a little too much cracking…

**Kitsune Kit:** I'll let Kohaku answer this one. n,.,n

Kohaku: Yeah, I show up in this story. (Come on, how could I _not_?) But not for a couple of chapters. Hang in there, you'll get a dose of my techno-glitter-ness soon!

**Arano Honou:** No, I promise I won't do this with every chapter. Just the ones when Cathy doesn't update for a while, Jenna. Meanwhile, you can meet my muse, officially titled the Muse of Random Acts of Perversity and Bishieness, Shiku.

Shiku: Yo! And that's perversity as in mischievous and wicked, not hentai. Hope your work's been going easier than mine! Niana can get so _stubborn_ someti—ack! (Gets dragged off by a fuming Niana)

Starling: While Shiku gets his just punishments, I'll finish up the review responses. You might want to get the power tools away from Cathy before she decides what exactly she's going to do with them.

**Dreamstar22**: (Kohaku: Wow, I'm popular! oO) Starling: We're glad you like Niana's work, she puts a lot of effort into it whether or not it shows. Reason number two why she hasn't put this story up sooner; this is actually the fourth rewrite of it. Mighty particular, my creator. n.n

**Magus784:** Starling: Welcome back! Everyone's hoping it'll take Koenma a good long while, but I don't think it'll work out that way. It rarely does (sigh) how disappointing. As for pocky, me'n Niana like the almond-chocolate flavor the best!

**Northic-Nymph: **Starling: As Hiei—and Niana, if she wasn't busy whacking Shiku—would say, 'damned with faint praise'. She's admitted aloud to herself, my creator is not the best writer on the site. Just one who has a lot better grip on grammar than most.

**Asilin Kheldarson:** Starling: Another loyal reviewer! (Obsidian blushes over in a corner) Skittles are always welcome!

**Darkspirals: **Starling: Ah, yes, that is the question, isn't it? As for our two favorite elementals, if a thousand years of living hasn't changed them much, what's a couple more years?

(Niana walks back up with a smile and a bokken resting on her shoulder) Okay, now that that's taken care of—(Shiku: Iiiiiteeee…)—we'll just wrap up with the disclaimer and get this chapter started! Drox, would you do the honors?

Disclaimer: (Drox) Meepmeep meepmeep me-me-meep meep meep. Meep meep.

Starling: Translated into human that's 'Meepish' for 'Yu Yu Hakusho is not owned by Niana. Thank you.'

—————————————————————————————

——

——

"Hey, welcome back, little shadows! How'd it go?" The warm voice that sounds like it belongs to a young man is raised only loud enough to be heard over laughter, music, and the sounds of dice being thrown across stone floor.

The one standing beside her, whose face she cannot see, replies in a voice full of cheer. "Went great, 'Zuchi-san! Are the bosses here?"

A laugh as a warm presence much bigger than she approaches, his aura made of yellow and blue. "Of course, they're here, we've all been waiting for you to get back! Spill, spill! Get anything good?"

"We got presents for them, but you'll hafta wait to see the rest," she finds herself piping in a voice far younger than the one she owns in waking life. "Where are they?"

"Cha, in their quarters as usual, last I checked, probably lazing about like we can never seem to get them to do. G'wan, scat, tell later. I'll get Gre'ich to put a couple plates together."

"Thanks!" she and her shadow chime, trotting through a large cave that would be spacious if there weren't so many people gathered in it, into a complex network of tunnels that have been worked on until they are proper hallways, lit regularly with lamps that burn like will o' the wisps.

Twists and turns are navigated with practiced ease, curtains that mark sleeping chambers or even whole suites of rooms are ignored; while the sub-lairs belong to friends, they don't belong to the specific pair she and her shadow are visiting. Neither of them speak aloud—but for some reason, she can feel her shadow's emotions and surface thoughts as easy as breathing. He's ecstatic about their 'chase' and its results, crackling with excitement at the surprise they are about to visit upon the bosses.

Finally, after so many forks have been taken that her small awareness of 'herself'—the one not trotting these passages so blithely—is dizzy and very thoroughly lost, they stop in front of a sub-lair entrance hung with rich velvet curtains. Her companion reaches up to just above his head, pulling the tassel of a small gold bell whose vine-like hook has its feet sunk firmly into the rock of the wall.

Another cheery voice calls from within after the first bright peal of sound. "Come on in, chibi ichi! I can smell your excitement from here!" The two need no further invitation, and she finds herself bounding into a place of quiet luxury.

A room ten leaps across has its floor covered by thick pelts of muted whites and grays in watered silk patterns—she 'remembers' the day her hero came back to the Lair with several creatures in tow, all very dead with numerous natural weapons to show that they had not been easy to catch. Snow-hunters are very dangerous and quick to kill anyone foolish enough to enter their clan's territory, but he'd brought home enough to feed everyone for a week, and a special prize for her and her shadow—a live cub, squalling hunger.

Kizi-chan, as she named the beast, bounds up now, massive paws silent on the thick furs. They always keep the loyal creature here when they go sneaking. Her loud purrs rumble against their chests as Kizi-chan butts her head gently against their foreheads, the snow-hunter greeting to clan.

More luxury surrounds them; small, tasteful statues are arranged in a few carved nooks, with a shrine to Inari holding pride of place. The walls are hung with simple tapestries of rich fabrics to keep out drafts, and every available space has at least one potted plant in it.

Reclining before a large fire that burns in a fireplace big enough to have roasted one of the slain beasts whose pelts warm the floor are two people. She can't see their faces, but she knows that these two are the most important non-family in her entire life. One is smaller than the other, but the sheer _presence_ of self surrounding it is brighter than the larger seated beside. A few books and scrolls are scattered around the adults; apparently they had been catching up on their reading.

"Welcome back, winsome kit, chibi-Yoko," that smaller-but-blinding presence hails them, holding her arms out to them with the feeling of a smile. Both bound into her lap—she finds herself spilling over into the laughing lap of her hero, large tanned arms encircling her small body in a warm hug, her hair being affectionately ruffled. "So, how'd it go?"

"We got lotsa stuff!" her shadow chirps, pulling away enough only to start spilling treasure from beneath his shirt. She finds herself doing the same, jewels, coins, and chains pouring across the lap-fur with musical chinks, firelight finding itself shackled to the bright metals, reflected by the polished stones. "Lookie! We got presents for you!" And he holds up a fine chain of platinum—she doesn't know how she knows it's platinum and not silver, but she knows—with a midnight sapphire carved into the shape of a rose dangling from it.

Her gift to her hero is a golden chain of thicker links with a fox-shaped emerald grinning strung on it, the flickering flames making it look as though the creature is winking in an offer of sharing a secret. "This's yours, Shishou!"

Her hair is ruffled again. "Mou, mou, no calling me 'shishou', remember? 'Master' makes me feel so old! It's just Boss or Yoko-san, okay"

In unison: "Hai, Boss-sama"

The other presence laughs like silver bells ringing, stealing her from her hero's lap long enough for a warm hug. "I think that's the best you're going to get, my heart-thief! Now," she adds briskly with a forehead kiss for each, "off to the kitchens and bed with you. We've got a long day of training tomorrow."

——

——

This time, instead of waking with sounds of terror, pain, of furious shouting ringing in her ears, she wakes up to the annoying yowl of her alarm clock with the feeling of being safe and loved.

——

The next afternoon, the once-more disguised Obsidian walks as 'Haru' beneath the trees near the Science wing, savoring his second day of freedom, fresh air, and sunlight. Oh, sure, he knows Hiei's watching him like a hawk-youkai, but that's only to be expected—especially since Aislin ordered the fire apparition to do so upon humiliation of glitterizing. Whatever that is.

As he enters the shadows cast by a particularly large tree, he hears a familiar lovely voice followed by several disturbing sounds; "Come on, koneko, just a little…bit…further—eeek!" Snap! Thud! Crunch-crunch-crunch-CRUNCH-CRUNCH!

_Shit! Two steps left, one right! Arms out and—!_ Whumpf! He sits down hard as about one hundred pounds of girl tumbles into his arms, ears filled with the sounds of weak meowing. As he catches his wind, he shifts his uniformed armful and blinks. Zephyr Uotani, the girl in his Language class, lies limp in his embrace with a marmalade tabby kitten clinging to her scarf in fright.

"Oi," he says in concern, shaking her a bit. "Oi, Uotani-san, daijoubu desu ka? Oi. Oi? O…oh, shit!" His gentle shakes had caused her head to roll, revealing an already-purpling bruise spreading just under her hairline, still partially hidden by her thick bangs. _Damn it all to the seven spheres of hell! That 'thud' must've been her head connecting with a bloody branch! Shit! Shit-shit-shit-shit-SHIT! Gotta get her to the nurse's and _fast_! Where the hell is that place, anyway? Figures it's the only place Yusuke didn't show me!_

Swiftly the fox rises to his feet with the unconscious girl safely cradled in arms muscled from lifting those heavy chains without the use of youki, the kitten still holding on for dear life to Zephyr's shirt as Obsidian takes off in a smooth run. Century of imprisonment or not, his body still remembers how to move like water so as not to jar anything he might be carrying, whether it be fragile loot or injured girl.

In seconds he's shouldering his way through the main school doors, asking every student he meets for the fastest route to the nurse's office. Every one of them points the way in startled concern—until he bumps into a petite girl with short-cropped blonde hair and fierce blue eyes.

"What did you do to Zephyr?"

"Geez, I didn't do anything but save her head from the bloody ground! Wasn't in time to save it from a damn branch! Nurse's office! Now!"

"Follow me and you better keep up!" And the girl sprints down the hallway, turning a sharp left and racing up a flight of stairs. Obsidian is right on her heels with his legs pumping steadily, barely breathing hard from his exertions, the kitten by this point having fled to his own shoulder to cling with unexpectedly sharp little claws to his jacket.

"Yeow. Loosen up, kitten, before I need stitches from your claws." The kitten is plucked from his shoulder by the blonde girl who practically shoves him into the nurse's office—which he'd nearly passed in his distraction—shouting for the nurse.

A plump woman with her chestnut hair bound back into a thick bun emerges from another door, mild disapproval shining in her dark grey eyes. "Amazuki-san, why the hubbub? What's—oh. Well, don't stand there gaping, young man, lay Zephyr-chan on one of the cots and be quick about it." While a worried Obsidian does as he's told, the nurse bustles about fetching medicines, washcloths, and something that smells like brandy.

The latter is measured out into something that looks suspiciously like a shotglass and shoved into the black fox's hands. "Drink that, young man, and better do it fast. You're white as a sheet." Obediently, he tips his head back and downs the liquid, gasping as a fiery dragon plummets into his stomach to curl there and growl. _Smells_ like brandy? Hellfires, it _is_ brandy! Or was, Obsidian corrects as he coughs, repeatedly rubbing his tongue on the roof of his mouth to rid himself of the taste of alcohol. _Yuck!_

"Is Zephyr going to be alright, Nurse Myojin?" his guide asks anxiously as the woman does her job, gently probing at the bruise and peeling back one eyelid to check the unconscious girl's pupil. The portly woman gives her a reassuring smile tinged with relief.

"She'll be fine, Amazuki-san. She just took a bit of a nasty crack, that's all. No concussion or skull fracture whatsoever, the skin will just be very tender for the next week or so." Being youkai instead of human like the blonde girl, Obsidian sees the faintest glow of reiki—or possibly youki, it's too faint for him to scent—pass from the sturdy fingers resting on Zephyr's lower brow into the ashen skin.

_A psychic or a youkai, unless I miss my guess,_ the black fox growls inwardly, feeling a sudden rush of protectiveness flood through him. _And I ain't leavin' till I find out one way or another!_

It takes a mixture of both Nurse Myojin firmly telling the persistent girl that everything would be all right and Obsidian begging the girl—who happens to be in his next class—to take notes for him while he stays here so that he can question the nurse alone (not that he mentions that reason aloud). The black fox finds himself solemnly promising to go hang himself upside-down in a well if his charge so much as gets one new tiny scratch on her before class ends to convince Amazuki to go away, but go she does with many backward glares.

"That girl is scary," he mumbles as he pulls up a chair beside the cot, settling himself quite firmly into it before giving the nurse his own glare. "Now. That clunk was a lot worse than you're making out, and I saw the energy. Who and what are you?"

"Could ask you the same, my buck."

A brief flash of gold peeks through the violet. "I am her protector. She is mine to guard." Interestingly enough, he manages by stroke of luck to avoid the same pitfall that once caught Hiei two years ago; he doesn't use the word 'ward' which would bind his soul to the girl's until she could fight for herself. However, Hiei doesn't complain too much about the experience: he now has a fiancée in his ex-ward Kohaku Piers, a wolf demon descended from two of the greater clans, the Blood Moon and Blade-arms.

"I'm the Nurse to this school, young man. I've been patching up those two brawlers Urameshi and Kuwabara for a few years, so I learned a few things to keep up with their injuries. All I am is a minor human Healer, nothing more. But you. You're youkai."

"I am no danger to any of the students here. I came here to look, and when I find what I'm seeking, I will go away. Until then, I'm going to keep an eye on this girl. Everyone, even Luck, seems to be picking on her."

The woman's harsh edge seems to soften a bit as she pulls up another chair across from Obsidian and resumes Healing what damage she can. "Little Zephyr here hasn't had the easiest time since she and her mother moved here about three years ago." Obsidian manages to restrain himself from twitching—this could mean something important! "She started out being pretty outgoing, but after a couple of weeks she just kinda closed up. Maybe it was because of her parents' divorce, maybe someone was bullying her. Tell you what, though, if a number of the other students found someone who was actively bullying her, that fool would be in for a world of hurt."

"Why?"

A snort. "You must be new. Uotani-chan here is one of the sweetest, quietest little things around, but she's got a will of iron and a head like rock when it comes to someone or something in trouble. This'll be the third time this year she's in for whacking her head trying to get a cat out of a tree. Speaking of which, you mind picking up the little scut before it decides to shred something?"

Obsidian looks down to find the tabby kitten emerging from beneath the cot, mewing piteously as it makes a bee-line straight for him. He scoops it up and pets it until the mews subside into tired purring, letting it curl up in his lap for a snooze. "Poor kit. Not old enough to have left…her dam," he murmurs, checking the kitten's gender despite sleepy protests, "barely old enough to eat solids. Got yourself some trouble, eh, koneko?"

"Zephyr fosters them before adopting them out. I've yet to hear of one that got abandoned again or turned into the shelter, she's that good. The little scut's in good hands. If she wakes up hungry I've got some formula in the fridge for times like these. Go to class, young man."

"Name's Haru Shinkai. I'm not going anywhere."

With a sigh, the nurse heaves herself out of the chair and strides towards her actual office where she does paperwork. "Suit yourself, I have work to do. Don't blame me if you fail a test or something."

_Crud. There's a test this afternoon in Iwamoto's class. Great._ But Obsidian doesn't stir from his appointed watch, crossing his arms across his chest to stare out the window. Exhaustion creeps over him, demanding payment for the over-exertion he placed on his slow-recovering body just a little while ago. He surrenders without noticing, chin dropping onto his blue-clad chest as his eyes drift shut. Soon, the silence is only broken by the faint hum of student life outside the office, soft breathing, and quiet purring.

——

That is the _last_ time she lets Eri drag her that close to concert speakers ever, ever again. Her head is pounding like the Taiko Drum Club practice, the discomfort concentrated near her left temple. "Ugh."

"Well, look who's back in the world of the waking," a familiar voice says in quiet humor. Zephyr cracks one eye to find Nurse Myojin cleaning the table across the room, a wry smile on the woman's face. "If you want to see something cute, turn to your left."

Curious, she does so and finds her lips curving upward into a smile. That new boy is sprawled in a chair beside her cot with his head flung back so that she can see just how thick his eyelashes really are. In his lap is her kitten, the one she'd adopted just a few days ago from the shelter to keep, sprawled almost as much as the boy, one hind leg twitching ever-so-slightly.

"Zonked out just a few minutes after he brought you in," the middle-aged woman chuckles softly as she walks over with a can of juice and two small pills in a paper cup. "According to the kids who've been dropping by he brought you here in a sprint all the way from the Science Wing and didn't break a sweat. Paying for it now, though."

Zephyr smiles up at the woman as she accepts the drink and medicine, swallowing the little spheres down before gulping the juice to rid herself of their taste. The kitten stirs, ears quivering, before opening bright blue eyes to blink at her new human.

"Baka koneko," she whispers, ruffling the kitten's ears before gingerly collecting her from the sleeping boy's lap. She needn't have bothered to be so cautious; he doesn't even twitch. The nurse rolls her eyes—some guardian.

"Now, missy," Nurse Myojin tells her in a whisper as she ushers the girl to the door, "those pills are going to knock you flat on your ass again within an hour. I've already called your mother, she should be waiting for you at the front gate to pick you up. Make sure you put some ice on that lump of yours before you go to bed, is that understood? No loud noises, no hats until that bruise heals."

"Yes'm. Domo arigatou."

"Douzo. Now scat." Zephyr leaves, an oblivious kitsune sleeping through it all.

——

"Ivory!" Obsidian wakes with a violent jolt, staring around him with wild, golden eyes before he remembers where he is, hastily shifting them back to that rich violet hue.

"'Bout time you woke up, school's over." He stares at the nurse sweeping the floor by the window, then whips around to stare at the empty bed. "Uotani-chan woke up about three hours ago and went home, likely she'll be asleep by now again. Amazuki dropped off your notes and got Yukimura to do an extra copy of hers for that blowhard Iwamoto's class. Thanks to a note from me, you can take the test tomorrow during lunch."

"Uh…thank you?"

Casting her gaze to the heavens as though asking for patience with muddle-headed youkai who masquerade as students, the woman just points to the door. "Go home, kid." As he collects his new notes and walks out the door, he hears a kinder, "And get some sleep before you pull a Zephyr."

"Yes'm."

Hiei meets him once he gets outside, silent approval tingeing those crimson eyes a warmer shade as he walks with the fox towards Obsidian's temporary lair. It's a small apartment about ten blocks from Sarayashiki High, found by pure luck and paid for—for a month, anyway—by the cash lifted from a rich snob's wallet as the ningen stupidly walked past a newly-groomed fugitive fox.

When the young kitsune had noted that the man was absurdly wealthy and flaunted it with tawdry, expensive jewelry, rich clashing fabrics, and a pair of costly sunglasses perched on top of his head, the human had lost both wallet, watch, and spiffy shades in a breath, never noticing their absence as he walked on.

Obsidian kept the sunglasses, wanting them in case the sun got too bright for his unaccustomed eyes; but ditched the wallet once he'd emptied it of all the money into a trash bin, ignoring the weird stiff cards covered in numbers that had been stuffed into the billfold once he'd discovered that the shiny things were not real silver or gold, as they looked.

The watch had been pawned—some things were the same no matter what world it is—within a few minutes, the fox taking his new small hoard and wandering the streets for about an hour for a likely contact. He'd found one, a rat youkai who only demanded half of the money in return for a new identity; including birth record, medical record, dental records, social security, bank account, and school records.

"Since yer new to Ningenkai, kid," the rat had told him as it had gleefully counted out its pay, "I'll put ya in Sarayashiki High 'steada Meiou—that's the brain school. Couple strong guys there, but as long as ya lay low ain't gonna be no trouble, ya dig? I'll even get ya a uniform, free o' charge. Good business tactics an' all. Just find yerself a flop and I'll come find ya. Scripp's got the best nose in the city, he does."

The rat had been as good as his word. Scripp had shown up at his doorstep in human guise not more than fifteen minutes after Obsidian had been given the key to his new lair with a bundle of blue under one arm and a handful of white pages in the other hand. The contact had given him careful instructions—he'd claimed it was included with his fee—about what to do and not to do, how to act and what he should look out for. Specifically; lay low, don't attract attention, act cute but average in brains, and the Spirit Detective and his Team, in that order. Then the nezumi had handed over the papers, which included his new class schedule, had wished his employer luck, and left.

"Nice catch, fox," Hiei finally says about two blocks from the apartment, gazing straight ahead. "For a half-dead starveling."

Obsidian just grunts, pulling out his hair-tie and shaking his cropped mane loose. "Not half-dead. Jus' tired."

Hiei rolls his eyes as he tugs the fox to the left, walking him around a streetlamp that had been on a collision course with the weary male. "Obviously."

Finally they make it to the hidden lair, only to find Aislin already waiting for them inside. "Landlady let me in when I explained I was your cousin, winsome kit," she explains as she guides the groggy Obsidian to his room and waits just outside while he changes. When the black fox stumbles out again in black sweats and a black tanktop the ice-fox leads him to the small kitchen, sitting him down before setting a bowl of fried rice just beyond face-plant range.

Aislin hauls his head up when Obsidian's nose attempts to meet the table-top, gently shaking him until he bats at her hand with a tired growl. "Obsidian, you need to eat. _I_ may not need to eat often, but I'm also a lot older. Eat, and then you can sleep."

Not bothering to open his eyes, the young fox reaches out, fumbles for the bowl, snags it, and practically inhales it. He looks mildly happier when he's finished, but is in no way alert or aware of his surroundings. Hiei has taken a perch on the living room's windowsill, finding the whole proceedings rather amusing. He never thought he'd see Aislin clucking like a mother hen over anyone—okay, so she'd done it once or twice to him, but not to the extent she uses on Obsidian, gently bullying him back into the bedroom and emerging just a few moments later with a small smile.

"Silly kit's all worn out. He really shouldn't have sprinted like you say he did, Kikan-kun. He used what energy he stored escaping and needs time to rebuild his reserves. A transferal of energy wouldn't do much good at this point since he'd just reject more than a few 'drops'."

"Meaning?"

"He'll need to sleep like the dead for a day or two and then eat like a dragon, then we'll see. I'm going to go home, porcupine head, since Kurama-koi is running errands for Shiori and won't be done with studying until late tonight. Please, please keep an eye on Obsidian? He just may start sleepwalking like he did sometimes back at the Lair."

"Now why did I not see that coming."

"Me asking or him sleepwalking?"

"Both."

"Because you're growing comfortable with our new lifestyles, that's why. New weird-outs take a few minutes to register as normal."

"Hn."

Aislin just smiles and gives him a sisterly peck on the cheek. "Night, porcupine head."

Sigh. "Good night, snowflake."

——

"Uotani-san?"

"She's still out from hitting her head yesterday, Iwamoto-sensei."

"Thank you, Amazuki-san. That makes two absences counting Shinkai-san. Anyone know where he is?"

"Probably asleep, sir."

"And why would that be, Miyami-san?"

"I saw him walking home after school with the guy who sometimes hangs out with a couple Meiou students. Looked like he'd died and somebody just warmed him up a bit. Nearly ran into phone poles twice."

"Shinkai ran all the way from Science Wing to Nurse Myojin's carryin' Uotani, sensei. Anybody'd be wiped after that."

"Thank you, Kuwabara, for that opinion. All right. Get out your books and open to page one-hundred thirty-two."

——

It's the setting sun shining into his bedroom window that wakes a groggy, tired young male, who lifts his head, snarls drowsily at the orange light, then yanks the covers back over his head. In the living room, a fire apparition perches comfortably on the bay windowsill, snickering under his breath as noises of rising reach his ears accompanied by complaints voiced in Zombie.

Eventually a bleary Obsidian staggers into the room, not even registering the black-clad form blocking some of the undesired light as he continues on into the kitchen. A few clatters and then the soft bubbling of a brewing coffeepot. When the bubbling becomes the only sound Hiei hears he wanders into the kitchen and starts snickering again.

Obsidian is asleep at the small kitchen table with a cup of brew in front of him, head pillowed on his arms as he snores softly, unbothered by the artificial light. "Baka kitsune," Hiei says in laughing exasperation, walking over and lifting the slightly-larger male (remember, Hiei got taller in Spring's Fire!) in a fire-man's carry. Still amused, the crimson-eyed youkai walks back to Obsidian's bedroom, letting the black fox roll off his back onto the thick mattress.

The boy mumbles, fumbles for the blanket, and once again disappears beneath the colorful fabric as Hiei closes the blinds. Wondering what other kinds of antics the kit will get into, Hiei turns off the coffeepot before taking a seat in a corner of Obsidian's bedroom to watch and smile.

—————————————————————————————

Hm, I'm getting Hiei to show his sense of humor again. I better go find a good hiding spot before he reads this. Before I go, has anyone got a recent link to a YYH fic last titled 'Tainted and His Picture'? I'm hoping it hasn't been taken down, but I can't seem to dig it up. It's a Genkai/Toguro story, starting back when Genkai was still a teen herself.

If it did get taken down, I'm going to be very sad…T.T I never got to read the ending—if there was one.

PS: I was incorrect last chapter—my friend's pen name is Dragonseer.


	4. Chapter Three: Fallen Angel's Rescue

Kohaku: Wow, damn, Obsidian, you and I are really popular. For the sake of my ears, I'm glad I actually show this chapter.

**SilverRainbow223:** Hope the email I sent reached you and explained things. If not, let me know, okay? n,.,n

**Arano Honou: **Should we get one of the girls to check up on her, Jenna? Damage to her brain is the last thing I want happening to her. Not even on the list. (Shiku is still busy nursing the injuries given him last chapter, muttering things about union rights and health plans)

**Kitsune Kit:** Yes, actually, I have in the case of Kurama and Aislin….(plots 'evil mean things' to do to characters)

**Magus784: **There are several differences between Obsidian and myself. One, I am not an energy-starved fox kit, I am a fully-charged kitsune. Two, 'Dian is out of practice with hiding his energy signature—besides which, all the fluff-head had to do was follow Aislin. Three, if Hiei actually does try something I have artistic license to alter his appearance and behavior any way I chose—including some things with Kuwabara. Blackmail; the system works. 'n,.,n'

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** Whoopsie! Lemme fix that! Thanks for the reminder! on,.,no

**Asilin Kheldarson:** Yummy, skittles! (Goes off chasing the rainbow to see if the end has either candy or shinies.)

—————————————————————————————

A few days pass, life returning to normal at Sarayashiki, the daily sprints of the new bishounen becoming a familiar sight as he tries to escape his fanclub between classes. His favored hiding spot is up on the roof, on the access shelter's own cement roof, soaking up sunlight while Yusuke chases the girls back down the stairs.

"Damn girls!" the punk complains after the eighth or so time, settling once again back into his nap pose; half reclining against the wall behind him, fingers laced on the back of his neck with his legs stretched out. "Ya think they'd get a clue when they keep finding me up here!"

"Yusuke," the violet-eyed boy drawls lazily, "that would require them to be humans with brains, not a flock of fluff-headed birds taking the roles of vultures."

The other teen roars laughter, slapping his leg and looking up to where Haru sprawls with that messy head chinning the edge of the small roof. "Gotta a point there, Haru!" When the laughter dies away, Yusuke leans back to gaze up at the new student. "So. Rumor mill has it you sprinted from Science wing to the nurse's office carryin' about a hundred ten pounds. True?"

A lazy grin. "If that girl weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet I'd be surprised."

"So Uotani got clunked in the head?"

"Yeah, but Myojin cleared her as being a non-hospital case." Obsidian rolls over so that all Yusuke can see is the back of his head, gazing skyward. "So what's her story, anyway? You know, right? I mean, a guy like you's got his finger damned near _in_ the pulse, desu ne?"

"Yeah, that's pretty on. Uotani ain't too unusual, I guess." Yusuke rubs his nose as he thinks. "Lessee, she showed up 'bout three years ago, transferred when her folks got divorced an' her mom moved to get away from the guy. I guess she got full custody since I've never seen Uotani headin' off fer her dad's or nothin'. Pretty flashy little bit when she first started goin' here, but I guess someone managed to bully her without anyone else findin' out about it, 'cause she started clammin' up a couple weeks after that. Hardly says anything to anyone 'cept fer Amazuki or when teachers ask her to read aloud, sticks mostly to herself."

"Myojin said it was the third time she'd been in for kitten-rescuing this year."

"Yeah, that's Uotani for ya. She just wades in durin' a fight and starts whackin' heads together 'til it stops, then starts patching up anyone who needs it. Same goes for the few druggies around here; whenever one shows up she mother-hens 'em until they stop, just to get her to leave them alone. A real Mother Theresa with attitude."

"Yusuke, when you're going to talk about someone, you'd better make sure they aren't there." Both boys start at the sound of Keiko's voice, staring up/down to find the brown-haired class president standing there with her arms crossed, a blushing Zephyr standing behind her. "I came up to find you so you can be on time to Iwamoto-sensei's class for a change and instead I find you gossiping like an old woman."

"Hey, but Haru's the one who asked—"

"How's the head, Uotani-san?" Obsidian cuts in smoothly, smiling benignly down at his 'charge' with just the faintest hint of fang showing. For some reason, he can hide every other aspect of his strange blood except for his fangs. Oh, well. Things are weird enough around here that a couple of natural fangs don't even raise an eyebrow.

The girl blushes harder, pushing back the bangs over her left temple to show the slightest discoloration darkening her skin at her hairline. Keiko snaps her fingers, a smile replacing her scowl. "Oh, yeah! That's the reason Uotani-chan's here. She wanted to thank you for helping her out the other day. Come on, Yusuke."

The silver head and the black watch as Yusuke is dragged, kicking and whining, through the door and down the stairs. "If he doesn't like school so much, why does he even bother coming, I wonder?" Obsidian sighs, before jumping down to give Zephyr a sweeping, courtly bow. "It was my pleasure to help you, Uotani-san. After all," and here he grins up at her through his own messy bangs, flashing more fang and looking very much a scoundrel, "it's not every day a pretty angel just falls into my arms like that."

Zephyr turns tomato red and stares at the ground, not daring to speak a single word. The disguised youkai frowns, bending down so he can peer up through her bangs. "Hey, do I actually get a thank-you from your own mouth, or do I have to keep on imagining how you'd sound from the times you read in class? You sound so lifeless when you do that, I wanna hear the real you."

She looks away, still blushing. Obsidian maneuvers around to try and catch her cinnamon-colored gaze again, laughter beginning to bubble from his throat when she continues to evade his eyes. Finally he jumps up onto the fence and does a handstand, pretending to almost fall.

"Aw, come on! One word? Pretty please?"

She dashes over, fear blooming in her eyes as she watches in horror the fox hand-walk across the fence as though it is solid ground without a sixty-foot drop to his left. Zephyr bursts out, "Get down from there before you fall!"

"Who, me?" He drops to the roof beside her, giving the frightened girl his best innocent look. "I wouldn't fall from an easy stunt like that." And as she gapes at him, he reaches over and lightly flicks her on the nose, grinning like mad. "By the way, gotcha!"

The silver-haired girl starts to inhale, her battle-aura beginning to glow a purple-gray hue. "Why, you…! You…!"

"Prick?" he suggests helpfully, dancing away as she takes a swing at him.

"Get back here!"

"Why?" he counters, continuing to lead her a merry dance around the roof. "So you can swat me?"

"No, stupid! Your hand's bleeding!"

He stops, blinking at his gashed palm. It bleeds in a slow trickle, a trail of splatters having formed during his bit of mischief to glitter crimson in the sunlight. Totally without thinking, he licks it clean before studying it more closely. _Eh, just a bit of a cut, I probably just caught it on a piece of something when I hopped down. Nothing serious, I should be fine. _Zephyr makes a hissing sound before grabbing him by the shirt collar and hauling him off Keiko-style despite his numerous protests that he's gotten worse.

Nurse Myojin looks up from wrapping up Kuwabara's head as Zephyr pushes her captive into her office, the grey-eyed woman lifting one eyebrow while she ties off the bandage. It's an amusing sight; a wisp of a girl three inches shorter than the youkai boy brooking no arguments if one observes the stony expression the girl wears.

"Hey, Haru, what's up?" Kuwabara asks, reaching for his bookbag at his feet. The nurse yanks him back up by the jacket-collar, scolding him about extra blood-flow to that gash beneath his hair—courtesy of Yusuke, no doubt—while smirking at the protesting kitsune.

"I just scratched my hand is all and I really should be getting to class—"

"He _licked_ it, Nurse Myojin." Zephyr glares at her captive. "And it's _not_ a scratch, dummy! It's a good-sized cut from that rusty, dirty fence-top!"

"It ain't rusty!"

The middle-aged woman rolls her eyes as she snags Obsidian, dragging him over to the window so that his injury is lit properly by the early-afternoon sun. "Kuwabara, stay. Shinkai, hold still and let me look at this. For future reference, licking a wound is not a correct method of sanitizing it."

"Never hurt my ouches before," he mumbles sullenly. Zephyr makes another ones of those hissing sounds we're beginning to recognize as her trying to keep from smacking him.

"How many times have you just spread nasty saliva on an open wound?"

"What, you think I keep _count_? Ouch!" He scowls at the human prodding the slash, her pale, glittery reiki soaking into his skin. "Stop that!" Looking back over at his antagonist, he shrugs one slender shoulder. "I dunno, couple hundred?"

Twitch. "Nurse-sempai, please restrain me from hitting him."

"If you hit him, he probably deserves it, so no." The brown-haired woman leads Obsidian to the sink and tilts his palm up, pouring hydrogen peroxide on the still-bleeding cut.

"**_Nyowl_**!" The black fox wrenches loose and retreats behind a startled Kuwabara, cradling his hand and glaring ferociously at the two females. "Lemme alone! That hurt!"

"If it hurts, it means it's infected," the carrot-top explains, twisting around to half-grin at the bristling fox. "Personal experience, dude. Better let Myojin-sempai take care of it 'fore you get gangrene or something."

"Licking will get it properly clean if they'd just let me do it right, I'll have you know," Obsidian complains to his possible ally, not budging an inch. "Not _once_ has a hurt of mine gone bad after I washed it." He conveniently forgets that more often than not any hurt he obtained once within the circle of Yoko's band was doused with healing herbs or youki-Healed as soon as it was noticed.

"You sound like you were born with four legs instead of two!" Zephyr snaps, distracting him long enough for the nurse to walk over and grab his ear, hauling him back over to the sink, the student never noticing the twin winces both fox and Healer share. That's entirely too accurate for comfort. "Now stop being such a baby!"

Submitting with a most sullen expression while an unruffled nurse pours more hydrogen peroxide on the slash wound, Obsidian grits his teeth as it foams and froths its way down to the bottom of his injury with a persistent sting. His fingers twitch and he nearly bites through his bottom lip in his effort to hold still and not embarrass himself any further.

To be honest, he's had more physical contact in the last four or five days than he's had in almost a century and he still isn't accustomed to it, having been kept in a small cell that contained a bed, an enclosed privy, and a small table upon which food would appear or disappear. Occasionally he'd get a book that would occupy his mind for only a few hours no matter how thick, his imagination hungrily devouring the new information and storing it away to be contemplated later.

Until the stinging stuff had been applied and woke dormant nerves, he'd even forgotten the sensation of pain. It's not a welcome experience. But he holds still, swallowing the blood he'd drawn from his inner lip to prevent another outburst from the glowering female guarding the door and his only viable means of escape—she thinks. He even allows antibiotic cream to be liberally applied to the cut before it is bound in light cotton bandage and tied off.

Kuwabara had left sometime during the proceedings, heading off to class after getting a firm reminder about how to treat that head injury. Not that he'll listen, really. After so many years of taking abuse from Yusuke, other punks, and demons, he's got the best constitution of anyone he knows.

"Now, young man, I expect you to leave that bandage on for a couple days except for cleaning it _correctly_ with warm soap and water, not your tongue, applying more of this cream to it after every wash. Understand me?"

"Yes'm."

"Good. Zephyr, you can take him to class now."

Mr. Iwamoto gives them a hard stare as the two walk into the classroom, Obsidian still sulking, Zephyr still fuming. "You are both tardy."

"Uotani's fault," grumbles the black fox, pointing to the indignant girl with his bandaged hand. "I didn't want to bother going to the nurse's but she made me."

One craggy eyebrow rises. "What did you do to your hand?"

"He cut it on the fence, sir," the girl replies, forgetting in her residual temper that she rarely speaks aloud unless told to by an adult. "Then he thought he could get away with just licking it."

"What's wrong with _that_?" her companion nearly shouts, stomping to his seat and bringing his books out with a bang. "Geez, a little self-sanitizing's never killed me yet."

"Just you wait, one day it will," she retorts back, taking her own seat and handing him the test he'd finally gotten to just two days ago. It's marked with an eighty-seven in red pen, some of the black fox's irritation washing away. Heh. Not bad for someone who hasn't read Shakespeare in thirty years.

The two fall silent as the short-fused teacher goes back to his interrupted lecture, Obsidian apparently writing notes with utmost concentration. Zephyr finds out differently about halfway through the class when a small origami tiger lands on her desk, the lines on the paper forming some of his stripes.

She glances sideways to find her rescuer looking back from the corner of his eyes. When he catches her attention he wriggles the fingers of the hand resting on his desk, the rest of him seeming intent on the lecture. _'Open it'._ Though reluctant to ruin such a delicate piece of work, she unfolds the tiger while watching Iwamoto-sensei, to keep from getting in trouble for being inattentive or for passing notes.

That illusion is much harder to maintain when she glances down and reads the single line of hiragana written there. _'At least I got you to talk to me, didn't I?'_

——

"Hiei, any news on the Avalon?"

"Hn. No. It appears he's found himself a bolt-hole and is using it to full advantage. I have suspicions of where he's hiding, but no solid leads yet."

A resigned, impatient sigh as the prince of Reikai leans back in his oversized chair to scrutinize the impassive fire apparition standing on the other side of his desk. "There are more reasons than the obvious to recapture him quickly, Hiei. For the sake of what you hold dear, find him fast."

Hiei turns on his heel and stalks out, calling over his shoulder, "I hold no thing dear, toddler. Those people I consider important can take care of themselves." And woe to the one who harms the one person he values who cannot.

——

Zephyr walks beneath the trees by the Science Wing two days later, looking for a quiet, non-otherworldly occupied place to eat her lunch. These days, it's getting tougher to find a spot that won't have _something_ drift by sooner or later. Faint snoring reaches her ears just as a presence impinges on her awareness, the silver-haired girl looking up to find Shinkai asleep on a thick branch, as perfectly comfortable up there as a hunt-weary panther would be. His cheek is pillowed on his crossed wrists, wet-ink hair tumbling loose from its normal ponytail to curtain his face.

For a moment she has a sense of déjà vu gazing up at him, a different picture overlapping the one she knows is real. _A young boy dressed all in black, with hair hanging down nearly a foot, his golden eyes shining down at her in mischief._

Blinking that vision away, she finds herself surprised when she notices that not so much as a bug-ghost is buzzing around here. That's a surprise, but a very pleasant one. Ever since she got here, when she hasn't been busy with school, she's been trying to lower the city's—or at least a four-mile radius around Sarayashiki High—hauntings.

With anticipation making her cinnamon eyes glow, Zephyr takes a seat beneath Shinkai's tree, prepared to have a nice, quiet lunch for a change. For once, she won't have to banish, seal, or bother with a single spirit of any sort while digesting. (1) Wonderful!

"Mzzph? I smell chicken…" a sleepy voice mumbles from above, Zephyr once more looking up, this time to find glazed violet eyes blinking down at her. "Oh, hi, angel-girl."

"Hello," she replies quietly, smiling up. "I have plenty of food—Okaa-san always packs extra. Would you like to share?"

"Smells heavenly." The black fox drops down to crouch beside her, still drowsy from sleep. "Thanks." Something percolates through his spider-webbed mind, that fey head tilting sideways in an endearing expression. "Hey. You're talkin'."

Still in a good mood from the lack of uninvited guests, she hands him one of her sandwiches before replying. "I scolded you the other day, it seems kind of pointless not to. Mind the pepperoni."

His cross-eyed expression as flavors explode over his tongue is priceless. In about five seconds the sandwich is entirely gone and his fingers are being licked appreciatively. "Scrumptious. Whazzit?"

"My own concoction. Italian dressing on white bread with a filling of leftover chicken, fresh spinach, and some slices of pepperoni. Salami makes a good substitute but the pepperoni gives it a nice bite." She hands him another sandwich with a chuckle. She wasn't exaggerating when she'd told him her mother always packs extra. Despite it being her daughter's recipe, Kumiko Uotani uses it because she is forever convinced that her slender daughter will starve between breakfast and dinner; so she always packs four or five sandwiches, two bags of chips, and two bottles of soda or juice in the teen's bookbag.

This time the handout disappears more slowly though with no less relish, Shinkai taking the time to discern the different flavors so he can memorize them. _Heavenly spirits, _he thinks to himself,_ if I DO get caught again I'm requesting this as lunch every day._

"How's your hand, Shinkai-san?"

He swallows his current bite and raises the hand he'd sliced on the fence. Not so much as a pale scar marks where it had been. "All better. I heal super-quick." He squeaks when Zephyr grabs his wrist and tilts his palm into a patch of sunlight, face shocked.

"But it's only been two days! There's not even a scar or anything!" He tugs his hand back, wriggling the fingers in a playful gesture of counting them.

"So? I told you, I heal quick. Speaking of which, how's your head?"

A slender hand rises to Zephyr's hairline, pushing back the bangs to reveal not even a bruise marring the pale skin. In retaliation for her own grab, he gently grasps her chin and tilts her head to one side, eyeing it carefully. Nope. All healed. Not even a hint of discoloration. With the same gentleness he had used to touch her, he releases her and sprawls back on the thick grass. "Glad you're all better. But you gotta learn how to climb trees."

"I know how to climb trees just fine, panther-san," she retorts playfully, dropping a bag of chips on his chest. "It's just that some branches think it's funny to drop me."

"Panther-san?"

"You looked like a big cat sleeping up there."

"Oh." A pair of expensive-looking sunglasses are pulled from his pants pocket then slipped on, a yawn creaking the hinges of his jaw. "I just got tired of napping up on the roof is all. Trees are much more comfy and they smell better than fake rock." The bag of chips just sits there, forgotten, as the black-haired male is reclaimed by sleep.

After a moment Zephyr retrieves it, tucking it away before she leans back against the tree, soaking up the unexpected quiet. Since she and her mother had moved here, her world always seems to be filled with noise—either from the living, the dead, or the what-the-hells-are-yous. So she had become quiet herself, just to find some measure of that elusive event.

Without intending to, she too, drifts off to sleep.

Later on, when they are emerging from detention, Haru gives her a sheepish smile. "I guess we need to bring alarm clocks, desu ne? Hey, can I walk you home? Pretty girl like you shouldn't wander around by herself. Gives the scumbags bad ideas."

"No, that's okay, but thank you," Zephyr replies sweetly, watching as his face falls. "I have some errands to run for Okaa-san on my way home, and besides, I know how to take care of myself. Angel's honor."

He reluctantly agrees, parting ways with her at the main gate as he starts to head for his apartment, and she takes the turn that will lead to the downtown farmer's market. She doesn't notice the navy shadow trailing a half-block behind her, nor does she notice the black shadow trailing her own.

Obsidian has just taken a perch in a tree when a hand comes out of nowhere and grabs his shoulder from behind; the fox automatically moves to flip whoever's trying to capture him but stops when a length of cold steel is pressed ever so gently to his throat.

(("Oh. It's just you, Janganshi-san. Don't scare me like that.")) He releases his captor and the steel is withdrawn, Obsidian turning to watch the fire apparition sheathing the magnificent katana at his hip. (("Why sneak up on me like that?")) The young apparition uses Kitsune, a tongue he knows Hiei will understand since Aislin told him once that Hiei knows practically every language in the three worlds. How, though, she has no idea.

(("Hn. Habit.")) The reply is short, brusque, and totally Hiei. (("What are you doing?"))

(("Following the fallen angel over there.")) A hand points out the silver-haired girl busy bargaining at a fruit stand selling several kinds of melon. (("Just keeping an eye on her, you know? I got a bad feeling something's going to happen."))

(("And you're so adamant about it because…?"))

Bemusement colors those violet eyes gold for a breath. (("Funniest thing. No idea."))

Hiei rolls garnet eyes in exasperation. Here the kitsune is on the quest of his life and he ends up chasing after a pretty girl. Typical hormonal fox. But curious despite himself, he too, chooses to follow the human girl as she makes her way through the bazaar, buying some fruit here, vegetables there, and snapping up a few new varieties at the tea-seller's stand.

Eventually she makes her way out of the bustling crowds and heads for a quiet alley that leads back towards the neighborhood of Sarayashiki High. And that's when the scented trouble strikes.

One moment Zephyr is strolling along the clean, empty space between the backs of several businesses, and the next massive hands that are all the colors of bruises knock her groceries from her arms and clamp down on her wrists. What the assailants probably don't know is that they've effectively stopped her from reaching the spell-seals she always carries in her pocket.

As if from another person, she finds herself growling at these oafs, pissed that they dared accost her and destroy _her_ property without so much as a by-your-leave. That growl is swallowed when her antagonists come into view, five not counting the one holding her, so six in total. The shortest is close to six feet, the tallest more than seven, all dressed in unkempt clothes that stink of unwashed bodies overlaying the metallic tang of blood. All of them have hides that appear to have through a most thorough but careful beating that covers every exposed inch of flesh.

"Aw, lookie at the little ningen girl," the one with vise-grips on her wrists laughs to his cronies. "She growled at us, ain't that cute?"

"Let me go, now."

"Huh, ain't skeered, neither," another huffs, grabbing her chin and tilting it back to look at her face. "Real pretty though. Think we can make 'er skeered, boys?"

"I will warn you again," she says quietly, without inflection, gazing steadily at the male who holds her face. All the fear is firmly stamped into a deep hole far back in her mind with a good tight lid; it won't do her any good now to panic. "Let me go, now."

"Girlie's got guts, give 'er that," a third chortles, rubbing his hands together with glee. "Le's have some fun, eh, boys?" A hand that lifts at her skirt is kicked away with another of those sourceless growls.

"Paws off, muck-for-brains!" _Crap. Why did they have to grab _both_ hands?_

"Girlie's got temper, too." Her captor tightens his grip enough to make her squeak with pain as bones rub together. "Let's do somethin' about that." She starts struggling in earnest as they start pulling at her clothes, one rip informing her that her skirt hem is no longer intact, another mentioning that her shirt is now considering missing a sleeve.

"LEAVE HER ALONE, SCUMBAGS!" a furious voice roars from above, a black blur plummeting from one of the roofs to slam into her captor with both bare feet before shoving off into the other off-guard youkai. "PICK ON SOMEONE WHO CAN FIGHT BACK!" Within seconds her mysterious rescuer has cleared a space around them, herding Zephyr to the wall by the simple means of standing in front of her and reversing, forcing her to retreat as well or trip them both.

She scrutinizes her unexpected knight-in-black-silk as he bristles in front of her, her eyes widening at the sight of a bushed-out black tail lashing behind him, and as he risks a glance back she gets an almost Roman profile with ears the same obsidian black as his hair pressed tight to his head. And a sharp, burning golden eye with a dilated elliptical pupil.

"You okay, miss?"

"Fine, but my clothes aren't exactly in what I could call modest condition."

"Heh, I think that can wait." And he turns back to the semi-circle of youkai, that tail bushing out even further.

The leader steps forward, arms crossed over his chest. "Well, if'n it ain't the ragged Avalon all growed up. How'd you get outta prison, brat?"

Zephyr stares. _Avalon?_

The males apparently ignore her for a moment as they engage in the usual posturing. The one named Avalon crouches a bit, bloody hands spread wide to display talons already glittering with greenish ichor. "'Cause I'm stronger than you, that's how. Feh. How'd a bunch of vermin like you get past any of Koenma's watchers? Boss-sama normally catches rats like you before they get five feet from whatever portal they use."

"'Cause we're smarter than you, _boy_." Zephyr screams as the hulking brutes all launch themselves at her savior at once, but she whips out a fuda and presses it to the skin of the first attacker she can reach. When it sticks, she shouts a word that scalds her throat and watches as that unlucky youkai turns into a living torch, screaming and running around in random circles.

Avalon disposes of him mere moments ahead of the others, all six bodies crumbling into ash that swiftly starts blowing away on the breeze. As Zephyr stands there shaking, the black fox—for a kitsune he _must_ be—growls softly before licking at a shallow slice on his upper bicep. "Inari take them," comes the muttered oath after he spits out a mouthful of blood. "I was rusty, careless, and weak to boot. I'm going to catch all kinds of hell if the bosses find out I got nicked."

A few more licks from his rough tongue before the wound is considered clean and he faces the shivering girl, the toes of one bare foot picking up the slightly-singed piece of paper lying atop one of the ash piles. The anger is gone from the golden eyes but not from the shoulders—those are still singing with tension at the close call. Cinnamon eyes blink as the scrap is offered while he still stands at least three feet away. "You're sure you're okay?" he asks meekly, sighing with relief when she nods and takes the spell-paper from him. "Good. For a moment there I thought I wasn't going to be fast enough."

"What about you?" she counters in a voice almost as meek. "You got hurt in that fight."

A startled glance at the light wound that has already stopped bleeding. "What, this? Cha. Give it a day or two and it'll be gone like all the others I've picked up that were just like it." A roguish smile. "I'm truly glad you're all right, miss. I'm sorry for frightening you, but scumbags like those were need to be dealt with as fast as possible. Pretty angels like you shouldn't have to even _hear_ about slimeballs like lust-youkai."

"Who are…?"

"You can just call me Avalon, pretty lass." As graceful a court bow as he can manage on knees turned to jelly. _Guess I'm still not at full strength yet. Better hightail it home soon before I fall flat on my nose. _"It was my pleasure to rescue you." He then turns and crouches down as though to leap back to wherever he came from.

"Wait!"

"Yes?" he responds, looking back over his shoulder at her, half turning to reveal a head of lettuce in his claws. Floored, she watches as he starts picking up what groceries hadn't gotten stomped or blood-splattered. "What is it, pretty lass?"

"Um…thank you. But…don't I know you from somewhere?"

A brilliant smile. "You're very welcome, lass, but I don't think I've run into you before. I'd remember such a lovely face as yours." He places what turns out to be a majority of the items back into their cloth bags and hands them to her gently, making sure her uncertain arms aren't going to drop them. "I'd walk you home, but I'm afraid I'd catch a bit too much attention, what with the ears and all." He turns to the alley wall and jumps, clambering in silence onto the fire escape despite his tired body before looking back down at her with another smile. "Now, I want you to head straight home and pretend this was all a bad dream. Safer for the both of us that way. Swift travels."

And he's gone. Zephyr stands there a moment longer with her eyes threatening to pop out of her head until she comes to herself with a shake. "Mother will be wondering where I am," she tells herself firmly, pushing away from the wall and walking resolutely past the last smudges of blood and the few things that got crushed. "And I need to fix my uniform." A rent the length of her palm has been torn in the fabric near the hem of her skirt, her sleeve hangs half off of its seam.

From the rooftop above, Obsidian watches as his chosen…well, not quite ward but close…walk with efficient strides down the street towards home. His lips are curved in a relieved smile, his elbows braced on the crenellations with his hands resting on his biceps—incidentally covering that slash and the rip made in the black silk of his open-front shirt.

A sardonic comment from behind hardly makes an ear twitch. "Not bad for a half-dead, half-starved kit fresh out of prison."

"That means a lot coming from the strongest fire apparition in the worlds, Jaganshi-san," the 'half-dead' kit replies calmly. Hiei snorts and mutters something that sounds like 'damned with faint praise' as he walks over to stand beside Obsidian.

"Got some spunk for a human girl. And those spell-things she's carrying are nothing to sneeze at, either."

Obsidian beams as the braid flicks around a corner out of sight. "I know. Isn't she wonderful?"

The owner of said braid: "Atchoo!"

-

"What's the report, Hiei?"

"Hn. No sign of him yet, toddler. However, he does appear to have taken out five D-class that escaped the notice of the fox, the snowflake, and myself. Judging by the smells, he was rescuing a ningen female."

The toddler-prince Koenma, pro-tem ruler for Spirit World when his father, the giant King Emna Yama is away, sucks pensively on the blue binky that has only once been removed from his mouth. "Why would he want to rescue a human?" he wonders aloud. "He's a criminal, born and bred. Saving a human shouldn't even have occurred to him."

"Perhaps she's his current prey. You know how complicated a fox's dance can be." Inwardly, Hiei apologizes to the three foxes he knows-Kurama, Aislin, and Obsidian—for the slight that he knows would earn him several dressings-down from his soul-sib if she ever found out about it.

"Good point. Do you know who this girl is?"

"No. I could find her scent again if I felt like trying that hard, but I don't. There are far too many ningens packed into that city." If pressed, technically nothing in any of the three statements could be considered a lie. Hiei doesn't know anything about the paper-magic girl other than the fact that she goes to Sarayashiki—and Obsidian is showing a marked interest in her. And the fire apparition's opinions on anything in the human world (any _thing_, mind you) are extremely well-known.

"Another good point. If you find her, get Yusuke and Kuwabara to keep an eye on her if they can, or Aislin and Kurama if she's in their half of the city. She might be the key to recapturing Avalon."

"Hn. Whatever, Koenma."

-

"What's up, Koenma-san? Usually it's Yusuke-kun you haul in kicking and screaming. Or Hiei-koi, glaring and scowling for that matter." The toddler stamping papers at an oversized desk looks up, oak-brown eyes serious. Standing with her hands tucked behind her head, her hips tilted and one foot resting behind the other is a young woman no older than seventeen, with slanted peridot eyes framed in glittery purple make-up. Her long, milk-chocolate hair is streaked in purples and greens, her body decorated with neon blue mesh under bright purple tanktop and black jeans, gel bracelets, and leather. Silver earrings glitter from her ears, a blood-red orb the size of her thumbnail hangs on a gold chain around her neck. A stylish mp3 player is hooked to her belt, earbuds left to dangle down her shoulders.

"Kohaku," the ruler greets absently, nodding towards a photo resting on his desk. The wolf youkai steps forward and picks it up, examining the image of a filthy young fox, so besmirched she can't tell if his hair is naturally black or if it's dirt making it that way. Half-crazed, empty eyes stare up at her, his fangs bared in a silent snarl of despair.

"Who's this? And why on earth does he look like a bath is a foreign concept?"

"That's your first solo case. His name is Obsidian Avalon, and he escaped from prison just a few days ago. Hiei has already been set to it, but for some reason it feels like he's hiding something about it. Normally he'd have caught his quarry within a few hours, a C-class like this."

"He mentioned it, I think. C-class, huh? Not much of a challenge—"

"He's faster than Hiei."

Silence. Then, "Holy shit, and you expect _me_ to catch him? I think you've been stamping too long, the ink's damaged brain cells."

"Kohaku, Hiei is _evading_ this case like it's a fangirl. I need you to work on it. Yusuke can't, he's chasing some bigger prey a few towns over starting this afternoon with Kuwabara as back-up."

Hiei's mate-to-be eyes the picture again dubiously, then shrugs. "Eh, why not? Mind if I see if Hiei's picked up anything, though? He has a much harder time hiding things from me than he does you."

"Good point. Do as you will, you've got almost full carté blanché. Just try to keep the collateral damage down because our insurance is through the roof already."

"Gotcha!" Kohaku Piers the wolf demon chirps, strolling out with the photo tucked into her pocket.

—————————————————————————————

(1) That's what she thinks.

Well, the net of hunters is starting to draw in on Obsidian, since Kohaku is most decidedly _not_ someone to shirk her duties. If somebody correctly guesses what happens when our kawaii little kitsune meets out Glitter-Goth wolf then they get a cookie and the chance to visit trouble on our favorite ice-fox. It'll be a yes-or-no question, without the question. 'n,.,n' I'm so evil sometimes. Ready? Good. Start guessing!

Terms:

**Baka**: dummy, stupid, fool

**Bishie:** This is a must-know for any anime fan who's also a girl. It's a shortening of 'bishounen' or beautiful boy. Can also be used for the counterpart, bishoujo, which is beautiful girl. Mostly it's used for boys, though.

**Chibi ichi**: in this case, little ones. Japanese doesn't really have plurals for some reason…

**Daijoubu desu ka?**: Are you all right? Can be answered with a hai (yes) or daijoubu (I'm fine)

**Desu ne**: right/affirmative?

**Domo arigatou**: thank you

**Douzo**: you're welcome, please take this; you get the idea.

**Haru**: spring

**Ikazuchi**: Thunder. Called 'Zuchi by the Avalons when they were younger, this half-lightning, half-wolf demon is the current King of Thieves, having taken over the role when Yoko Kurama fled to the Ningenkai. (Long story explained in Winter's Rose)

**Ikeike/kisama**: take a wild guess from the context.

**Inari**: A deity (or kami, in Japanese) that can be either male or female. Is the patron kami of rice and foxes.

**Kasai**: Hiei Jaganshi's first thief-name back when he was a century or so old (give or take a decade or two). It means 'fire'.

**Kikan**: Mirror. An affectionate nickname used between Hiei and Aislin.

**Kimiko**: noble child

**King Enma Yama**: Ruler of Reikai and Ningenkai, very big and very powerful. (Seriously. The guy's at least thirty feet if he's an inch.) Father to Prince Koenma.

**Kizi**: short for kizuishou, or citrine

**Koi**: love, also fish but I usually use it as 'love' in this fic.

**Koorime**: Ice maiden, a kind of apparition that almost always lives atop a floating island of winter. There are currently three known exceptions to that rule living elsewhere; Hiei, his twin Yukina, and Aislin. Only Yukina is a full-blood koorime, and given the fact that she was sired by a fire apparition I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a few tricks hidden up her sleeve that have nothing to do with ice.

**Koneko**: kitten

**Koshou**: Pepper

**-kun-chan**: affectionate suffix generally used for children or good friends. –chan is closer but is usually meant for girls, while –kun seems to be easily crossed between genders, much to many fan's confusion.

**Makai**: Demon World

**Mizu**: Water. Mizu (aka Mercenary Guild Captain Mizu) is one of Aislin's good friends from about five centuries or so ago. He's a cat youkai.

**Mou**: gentle negative

**Myojin**: 'gracious kami'

**Neko**: cat

**Nezumi**: rat

**Ningen**: human

**Ningenkai**: Human World, also known as Living World

**Okaa-san**: mother, respectful tone

**Reikai**: Spirit World

**-san**: respectful suffix. **–sama** is another, but ranked higher, like royalty or gods high.

**Sensei**: teacher (can also be applied to doctors, etc.)

**Sensui**: Fountain. See Shinobu

**Sempai**: Upperclassman, 'person who knows more than I do'

**Shinkai**: Deep sea

**Shinobu**: Remembering. Sensui Shinobu was the previous Spirit Detective before Yusuke took the job; went bad after a particularly gruesome case. With the help of several discontent psychics and one Oracle demon he nearly opened a portal between Makai and Ningenkai that would allow even B-class or A-class—hell, even S-class—to pass freely between.

**Shishou**: master

**Taiko drums**: those really big, cool drums they pound on during festivals. Watching people play on them is fascinating.

**Youkai**: demon/apparition

**Youki**: demon/apparition energy. Human energy is reiki (literally, spirit energy)

**Yukata**: cotton kimono, usually summer-wear. There are specific colors and patterns used in kimonos to indicate age and rank; a girl below puberty will usually wear something pastel with some form of nature or somesuch on it (ie goldfish, bubbles, flowers)

**Yuuki Miyami**: Courage; (from several) not yet darkness. Was the very first Spirit Detective (in my fic, that Aislin has encountered)

**Uotani**: Sorry, no translation available.

All the names of the actual characters can be easily looked up online.


	5. Chapter Four: Homework and Healing

Of everyone who's guessed, Magus784 is the one who came the closest. Congrats, here's your cookie, and here's your question: yes, or no?

**Kitsune Kit:** Kohaku: Yikes, what happened to me being popular? Geez, chill, 'kay? You'll see what happens in this chapter.

**SilverWing013:** A hard task indeed considering at least three of the six-member team have excellent noses.

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** Mmh, that's a plot-point; sorry, but it's confidential until the next chapter. Ceremonies, huh? Sounds like what I used to do with Rainbow Girls. (Long story, just think older, more formal Girl Scouts and that's close enough).

**Magus784:** Hopefully this meets with your expectations. n,.,n

**Asilin Kheldarson:** Obsidian is pretty sweet, isn't he? Hard to believe he really is a wanted criminal—and I'm the one who wrote him!

**Arano Honou:** Are you kidding? Obsidian barely has the energy to run from his fan-club; it's one of the reasons neither Yusuke or Kuwabara have figured him out yet. Bouncing around like that is too exhausting for the poor guy. (I'm so mean to my characters; I should try to be nicer…nah.)

**Darkspirals:** And welcome back! Yes, Avalon-kun is a cutie, but he's also a fox. Mischief is practically his middle name.

**Raeneflovescandy:** o.O Review, hells, YOU need to update your Demon Diary story! Oh, wait, was that you or was that someone else? sounds of rummaging Oh, no, wait. That was someone else. Oopsie. I could've _sworn_ you had a story up in Demon Diary…I'm confused now. ?.?

A/N: due to Quickedit's stubborn pain-in-the-ass-ness, the double question-marks and those used in telepathy conversations have to have an apostrophe beside them to keep them there. Please ignore the 'mark 'pins' and pretend they aren't there.

——————————————————————————————

"See, Haru-kun?" Violet eyes watch intently as the problem is worked out with slow care, his tutor making certain that he understands each step before moving on to the next. "You then take this number here, switch it with this variable _there_, then solve. Okay?"

"I think so," the disguised fox says uncertainly, eyes running over the algebra problem yet again as Aislin sits back against the couch and stretches. The three kitsune are gathered at Kurama's human home in their human guises so that the two experienced pretenders can educate Obsidian on things that he's missed over the last century. Like any kind of structured math.

The kit is catching on in rapid bounds, finding this 'algebra' relatively simple compared to working out timings for guard-shifts, camera sweeps, and the required space he and/or his group would need to slip in, rob a place clean, and slip out again without detection.

"Your face will freeze if you keep frowning at the defenseless paper like that," Kurama chides in gentle amusement, walking in with a tray full of tea things. Both smaller kitsune give him a quick grin before returning their joint attention back to the homework.

The reason the three are still in human form—instead of their preferred forms with ears and tail moving freely—is that none of the hanyou fox's human family has any idea that demons actually exist.

Let alone that the mild-mannered Suichi is really a kitsune in a human disguise. Now that the Minaminos have become part of the Hatanakas, Kurama has three people to hide his secret from. His mother Shiori, his stepfather Kazuya, and his stepbrother Shuichi. And the red-head still gets the sneaking suspicion now and again that his mother knows far more about him than she's letting on.

How Kurama came to be in this state is something of a long story, but can be compressed at the risk of losing details. Seventeen years ago, he was trying to steal a jewel called the Summer Stone from an especially wel-guarded fortress while Aislin had waiting at their private lair for his return. Seventeen years ago, Kurama still had his real body and the name of Yoko Kurama; a kitsune with the body and face of a god, long silver hair, alluring golden eyes, and a wicked sense of humor.

And during that robbery, he was caught, hunted down, and fatally wounded. Rather than give himself to the dubious mercies of the Spirit World's justice system, the kitsune dissolved his body and soul into a ball of energy, escaping into the Human World to take refuge in the womb of a pretty woman named—at the time—Shiori Minamino. Nine months later, a healthy baby boy who was named Suichi.

The fox had planned on waiting until her was ten, when all his energy would have replenished and the deadline for his promise of return to Aislin, but when his mother saved him from serious harm as a small boy, he changed his mind and stayed. He nearly lost Aislin when she'd given up hope of ever seeing him again, but by luck and the intervention of Hiei, he'd gotten her back.

Now he leads three lives:

Suichi Minamino-Hatakana: calm, serene, frighteningly intelligent for someone who is 'only' seventeen. A star student at Meiou High, the darling of his extensive fanclub, and a cultivator of roses.

Kurama: the strategist and referee for Team Urameshi. Still calm, but with his wicked streak showing more clearly than as his human persona. The one who usually breaks up fights between Yusuke and his friend/rival Kuwabara. The wielder of the beautifully deadly Rose Whip.

Yoko Kurama: Since this self 'died' almost two decades ago, it is the one most seldom seen. However, the human-bodied fox has always been able to resume his true form no matter what convincing lies he has spun that say otherwise. He usually assumes it on the rare visit to Demon World or when the intimidation factor is needed.

But I digress. This is not Kurama's story, nor Aislin's. Theirs has already been told in the first Tale, Winter's Rose.

Kurama sets the tea tray down on the low coffee table, pulling his own books to him in order to complete the more advanced assignment for school tomorrow. He's always found it amusing that despite having saved the world—or, in the case of himself and his youkai compatriots, robbed it blind on numerous occasions—the small band of defenders are still subject to mountains of homework.

He glances over at the concentrating kit and smiles. "Any luck yet?"

"No," comes the distracted reply, "but I'm gettin' close. I keep sensing her around, but there are so many traces of her scattered over the city I'm having trouble untangling the path. I hope I find her soon."

Mischief gleams in Aislin's eyes as she leans forward to rest her chin on laced fingers. "Hiei tells me you've taken up an interest in a girl from your class. Is this true?"

Obsidian blushes bright red, not looking up from his current math problem. "Everyone seems to just ignore her except for this little blond fireball. I thought she could use a friend. I've got her talking to me, anyway." A hidden wince as his arm twinges from a sudden twist of his hand in a reach for an eraser. It goes unnoticed, which surprises him. Even in life-or-death situations, these two have always noticed the slightest sign of pain from their band. He switches the eraser to his other hand, wondering why this cut is healing so slowly even though the fight was just yesterday—the slash from the fence was gone within a few hours.

"A shy one, hm? I was wondering when you'd get around to girl-chasing, winsome kit," Aislin chuckles, satisfied with her student's answer. Obsidian just blushes harder and is rescued from further embarrassment by the sound of the doorbell.

"I'll get it," Kurama calls as he rises from the couch, only to find that Shiori has beaten him to it.

"Oh, hello, dears. Come to join the study group?"

"Study group?" In sails a young woman, her knee-length milk-chocolate hair tied up in a sweeping ponytail streaked with bright purple and green dye. Rather unexpectedly, she is dressed in the Meiou High boys' summer uniform, which does very little to hide her gender. Hiei is trailing beside her, looking as though someone (cough, cough!) has been dragging him over hot coals, crimson eyes resigned. "Eh? Suiichi, Aislin, are you having a party without me?" She stops, blinking and flashing glittery purple eye-shadow at the sight of a black-haired boy with amethyst eyes in the Sarayashiki High blue jumper. "Ano, dare wa?"

"I'm Haru Shinkai, pleasure to meet you," he chirps. "Suichi-san and Aislin-chan are my tutors." As brown eyebrows lift at the affectionate suffix, he explains, "Aislin-chan is my cousin from my mother's side. I moved here recently and she's been showing me the ropes." A grin over at the smiling ice-fox. "Desu ne, cousin?"

"Hai, so desu."

Accepting the story, the girl plops down next to him with a smile and a laugh. "Nice to meetcha, then! I'm Kohaku Piers, lead singer to Pocky America." She says the last with pride, deflating when Hiei pops her ego.

"You're still only playing at Childe, baka ookami." Whap! Hiei glares at Kohaku, rubbing the new lump on the back of his skull. Kohaku is still smiling at Obsidian, acting as if she hadn't just reached over and swatted the fire apparition upside the head.

"We play every weekend if you want to come listen. Just tell Brawn Kohaku invited you and you'll have no problem!"

"Really? Neat!"

The wolf girl beams at her new friend, leaning over in curiosity. "So, whatcha…eeew, math homework!" She scoots away from Obsidian, glaring at the textbook in front of him with an expression that—by all rights—should be setting the thing aflame. That, or at least make it shrivel up in a little black pile of ash. "Ugh. Math. It should be dropped to the bottom of the ocean."

"It's not so bad," the black fox tells her in a voice full of noble suffering. "At least Algebra, anyway." This time, when Kohaku bumps his arm as she resumes her seat beside him, he is unable to hide his wince of pain. And this time Aislin's sharp eyes notice it.

Instantly she is at his side, pulling his uniform jacket off to reveal his left bicep wrapped in stained bandages. "Aislin-sama!" Obsidian protests, trying to wriggle away, but her cool hand clamps with gentle strength around his elbow.

"Baka," she scolds him with a vexed frown, "why didn't you tell me you got hurt?"

Hiei scowls from Kohaku's other side. "Hn. Snowflake's right. Injuries are not to be hidden without just cause."

"It's just a scratch!" comes the protest as the bandages fall away to reveal a puckering, flushed slash beneath. The smell of herbs and infection can be easily smelled by everyone in the room. "Nothing serious!"

"That," Aislin snaps as she gently presses against the skin beneath the open 'mouth', rewarded with an upwelling of yellow-tinted fluid, "is a load of dragon dung. Look at this, it's got five kinds of infection and it may even need stitching! What have I _told_ you time and time again about any kind of injury?"

A faint yip of pain followed by a drawn-out, heavy sigh. "Get them looked at as soon as possible."

"Agreed," a sweet voice joins in, everyone looking up to find Shiori walking into the room with a first-aid kit and a frown. "With all the fights you children get into these days, I'm surprised any of you come home of a night." She hands the box to Aislin and stands there, giving Obsidian that disapproving look that only parents can use when you've done something spectacularly stupid.

Obsidian submits quietly to the third application of the dreaded peroxide he's had this week—though this time he doesn't even consider biting his lip to keep silent, what with the Look from Aislin that just _dares_ him to so much as think about it. Instead, a long, pained whine leaks from between clenched teeth as the stuff foams, excess being caught by a towel from the med-kit.

(("Five kinds of infection,")) Aislin growls at him in Kitsune, (("and all _kinds_ of mess. If you don't get something like this taken care of immediately next time, I am going to have your hide nailed to my study door. For the uncounted time, licking is _not_ considered a correct method of sanitizing.")) All of this is delivered in a tone that brooks no argument and promises to enact the clear threat.

(("Yes'm,")) Obsidian mumbles, face scrunched and lips drawn back in a grimace of pain while the ice-fox carefully presses against the wound again only to come up with more liquid. A second measure of peroxide is applied, the wound tested again with no additional upwelling and wiped clean. (("I just didn't want you to be upset with me."))

Kohaku is watching the proceedings with fascination while Kurama's special healing cream is applied in a liberal dose before the wound is swathed in fresh cotton bandages. Glancing to make sure that Shiori has—temporarily at least—returned to her domain of the kitchen, the wolf leans around with a conspiratorial wink. "You know, you're acting like a child. And you smell like a fox."

Obsidian blinks at her as the scent of wolf fills his nose, eyes momentarily shifting from amethyst to gold when Aislin tightens the protective wrappings. (("Ouch! Not so tight, Boss-sama!")) Kohaku sighs and pretends to pat his head, hand flattening his silky ears back to his skull.

Aislin has a more direct method. A swift bop and the ears are quickly vanished again, those sea-green eyes focused on her task. (("Hold still, Obsidian, I'm almost done.")) Hiei betrays a wince as Kohaku stiffens at the sound of the male's name, understandable even in the liquid tongue of the foxes. _Obsidian?'?_

(("But it _hurts_!")) the koorime's victim complains, attempting to pull his arm away despite the grip she still has on his elbow.

(("Kit, either you hold still or I'll get Hiei to sit on you, so help me.")) At the potent threat Obsidian resumes his good behavior under the amused eyes of the fire apparition, the completed bandage swiftly tied off and the jacket returned to the 'traumatized' black fox.

Obsidian shrugs his way back into it while Aislin tucks the used supplies back into the first-aid kit, the soiled bandages finding their way unerringly into the waste basket courtesy of Kurama. Both adult foxes clean their hands with some sanitizing wipes from the kit before Kurama gives everyone an unruffled smile. "Now that that excitement is out of the way, what say we resume your studies, Haru-san?"

"That reminds me," Shiori says from the kitchen as Aislin resumes her seat across from her chastised student, "I keep forgetting to ask, but what is that language you were just speaking, Aislin-chan, Haru-kun? I've heard Suichi mumble in it in his sleep on some nights."

"It's a dialect from Europe, where Haru and I came from," Aislin improvises out of nowhere, mentally cursing herself and Haru for slipping into it so easily. "I've been teaching some to Suichi so I don't lose practice." Nevermind the fact that 'Suichi' already knows every nuance of said language just as well as she does!

The adult woman pokes her head around the door and smiles while mixing something in a bowl. "Well, dear, why don't you teach me some of it sometime? I used to be pretty good at Latin when I went to school."

"If you'd like," Aislin agrees readily, considering the benefits of such lessons. Should the human woman ever encounter a batch of renegade youkai, speaking a youkai tongue might give her a better chance of getting away unscathed. A phrase linking Shiori to Yoko or herself, disguised as something innocuous, would makes the woman's chances even better. After all, whether or not they've retired from a life of—ahem!—_active_ thievery doesn't mean the Winter Rose or the Silver Thief are any less a force to be reckoned with.

Meanwhile, as Aislin considers the beneficial possibilities, Kohaku and Hiei are deep into a telepathic argument. _/Damn it, Hiei, the guy you're supposed to have hunted down and arrested has been sitting under your bloody nose! Why is he still running around?'?'/_

_ /He escaped prison for a specific and very good reason, Kohaku. After he's accomplished it, I have every intention of hauling his ass back to prison./_

_/That is _NO_ kind of excuse, Hiei Jaganshi! You…hells, _I _should be arresting him right this second! Why am I still arguing with you when Koenma put me on the exact same case?'?'/_

_/You aren't because I'm _asking_ you to wait, koi./_ Kohaku's temper calms a bit at the affectionate use of 'love', a word the fire apparition only uses in private or in mindspeech. _/I'm curious to see how this turns out, aren't you?'/_

_/But—but—but…oh, _**pocky sticks**!_ Fine, I'll wait. Damn you and my curiosity./_ Murky blues and oranges color her thoughts a disgruntled, frustrated hue.

A wash of raspberry red, mint and honey, the color/scent Kohaku recognizes as her beloved's signature for happiness/approval. _/I thought you'd see it my way. Besides, he's been in the darkness for almost a century. I can catch him anytime, let him enjoy the sunlight a little while longer./_

She responds with lemon-lime and strawberry. _/Why don't you ever show this side of you to anyone besides me, Aislin and Kurama? It's a wonderful side, if uncalled for in cases like this kid. He _is_ a wanted criminal./_

_/You're the only ones who've earned it, and if you'll remember, _I _was a wanted criminal once./_Kohaku makes a face at him, signaling that for once, he's the winner of an argument with her.

_/You win, but I'm still gonna keep an eye on him./_

_/As will I, koi, as will I./_

——

The week finishes turning, another beginning with the situation unchanged. Obsidian keeps hunting when he's not in school or at Kurama's house, learning the ways of humans and homework. In the short span of time he's been free, the young black fox has blossomed beneath the sun, tanning several shades darker and making even more girls sigh with bliss every time he smiles. Which is often, especially in the quiet company of Zephyr Uotani.

Yusuke and Kuwabara, back from their all-too-easy mission already, have noticed the attention their new friend is giving the pretty girl, and give him all sorts of advice to 'win her over'. Obsidian simply smiles, nods, and forgets it all instantly.

The others who know the amethyst-eyed boy's real identity wonder at their dense comrades, curious as to why the powerhouse and the psychic (Yusuke and Kuwabara, respectively) have not been set on Obsidian's heels. But the kit just counts his blessings and keeps searching. He's so close now. Soon.

Meanwhile, Hiei keeps throwing false information and half-truths to Koenma, delighting in this minor revenge against the child-prince for tying him to Yusuke's city during his on-going parole. It's excruciatingly boring for the fire apparition when the people he cares to be around are busy in school and cannot keep him company, and the fact that all too often that boredom is only relieved by tasks set by the toddler just irks him no end. He conveniently forgets that it is this very life he's been leading, with a demon-descendant human boy as his 'commanding officer', that has allowed him to regain his status and strength as an A-class youkai. If crises keep coming as regularly as they do, he'll make S-class again before the decade closes. Not that Hiei will admit it.

Kohaku simply keeps her mouth shut, telling Koenma that her quarry has hidden his trail with infinite care and it's taking her some time to unravel the tracks. Her favorite excuses are time-consuming school and the band practices or performances that she _refuses_ to skip.

Obsidian takes his life of hiding in stride, the stolen sunglasses always present now on top of his head or perched on the end of his nose, absorbing every bit of knowledge he can while he can. He's even put together a sophisticated laptop from components paid for by Aislin, the ice-fox labeling the purchases as 'belated birthday gifts'. She bought him a carrying-case, too, an elegant thing made of black leather and dense foam, a gel-pad incorporated into the strap. The young renard hardly lets the thing out of his sight and one can usually catch him tapping away on the keys, playing with or tweaking programs and discovering the joys—and pitfalls—of the creation known as the World Wide Web.

When he isn't running from his fanclub, that is.

"Stupid viruses," Obsidian complains to Zephyr half-way through his second week of freedom while they sit under their usual tree by the Science Wing. "For every one I hunt down and clean out, two more seem to take its place. The eradication programs I got for them aren't even close to true coin."

Zephyr looks up from playing with her kitten Kizi-chan—the school having given the human girl special permission to bring the little cat for as long as she requires regular two-hour feedings—and shrugs as the laptop emits a sweet chime over a recorded cheer, indicating that the system is once more spotless, the virus having met a grim demise.

The black fox reverently shuts his laptop before returning it to its bag, then lying back in the grass with a contented groan. "Technology," he muses to the leaves dancing in the sunlight above him. "It's such a wonderful invention. I wonder why they didn't come up with it sooner?" By 'they' he means the humans, since demons have always had their own forms of it even when humans still lived in huts and ate raw meat. But Zephyr doesn't know that and laughingly answers his rhetorical question.

"Probably because you weren't here to suggest it." She giggles as Kizi-chan tumbles from her lap in pursuit of a large butterfly drifting past them, stalking through the short grass with adolescent clumsiness. Obsidian had found out the marmalade tabby's name just a day or so after that fight with the lust youkai, suspicion beginning to crystallize in his mind about this girl. _Strange, _the girl thinks to herself as she studies him from the corner of her eyes, _the way he talks you'd think he never even heard of computers before he came here._

She notices his face is slightly flushed, and concern replaces merriment when she recalls he's been acting—she hesitates to use the word listless—all day. "Haru-kun, daijoubu desu ka?"

"Hm?" Violet eyes flicker towards her. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just feeling a little tired. Think I'll take a nap. Wake me if I sleep through the bell again, okay?" Considering the day warm enough, he sheds his long-sleeved, light cotton uniform jacket and balls it up as a pillow for his aching head, leaving him in his pants and a white tee-shirt. Thinking a curse at the sun for being so bright, the shades are slid down to darken his eyes once again.

Zephyr nods, watching him as he combs back his shorter hair with his left hand—Aislin had made him get the back cut close to his neck, but allowed him to keep his messy bangs—and drops into sleep. Shock tinges the concern when she spies a bandage hugging his upper arm in the same place the kitsune Avalon had gotten hurt when he'd rescued her.

Little beknownst to the silver-haired girl, the cut had been healing human-slow because of enzymes that the lust demons had had on their claws, enzymes that it appears Obsidian is allergic to. Hence the too-easy infection that had set in during the first day. Aislin doesn't dare use her healing techniques on him for fear of attracting attention from Koenma's other hunters who are undoubtedly on this case as well, and the same goes for bringing him to the temple of Genkai.

The elderly—but still irascible—psychic is Yusuke's mentor and her temple is a place of sanctuary for any of the team when they need it, as well as the current home for Hiei's twin sister, the gentle and serene Yukina. The bond between the black-haired fire apparition and the maiden with hair the color of mint sherbet is supposed to be a secret, but the only ones who don't know are Kuwabara, Obsidian, and Yukina herself. Hiei has threatened death to anyone who so much as _squeaks_ a hint to anyone else.

Yukina has been learning reiki-based healing techniques from Genkai for almost three years now, which is why she was considered, but discarded as a choice to take care of Obsidian. The idea of taking him to a human hospital, where birth records, medical records, and proof of insurance would be requested never crossed their minds. One simply does not take a fugitive from Spirit World to such a high-risk place even when such papers have been expertly forged and presented. There is too great a chance that the place of healing would become a trap.

Hardly daring to breathe, Zephyr reaches out with a trembling hand to touch those pale bandages to assure herself that they're real, forgetting for a moment the lively ball of fluff stalking a weed. Just as her fingertips are about to brush the damp-looking fabric, her wrist is caught in a grip of iron. The sunglasses slide down as his head whips towards her, sliding enough to reveal slivers of gold just above their rims.

"Don't…don't do that, okay?" he pants, waiting until she nods mutely before letting go, head falling softly back to the grass. "That's…really not…a good idea." Concern has bloomed into fear at the heat in the skin he'd pressed against hers, and she quickly reaches out this time to feel his forehead. It nearly burns the skin of her palm, sweat beginning to shine on any exposed skin.

"Haru-kun? _Haru-kun_!" Zephyr gently shakes him, but the male lies in a boneless stretch at her knees. The sunglasses slip farther, and she pulls them away with an impatient sound. His eyelids flutter; he's trying to wake, but having little success. The fire boiling in his blood has burned away all of his senses so that he cannot hear the increasingly frantic calls of his 'name'.

Zephyr leans over him to lean her ear against his chest, hearing a rapid pulse as the scent of infection rises in her nose. The gash! She eases his jacket out from beneath his head, draping it over his torso as she rises to run for help. It being lunch-time, there's probably no one in the building behind them, and no one walking the sidewalk several hundred feet away would hear her shouts. She gets about five feet before a blur of black and the feeling of dangerous strength catches her attention.

She whirls back around, finding a boy almost her height, maybe a little taller, crouched over her friend with a deeply-concerned expression in unsettling crimson eyes. "Who're you?" she gasps in a mixture of fright and relief. She didn't have to yell for help to come, but she's not certain if help is what this stranger offers. She is ignored, the male's wrist moving to the damp forehead to be withdrawn again with a low hiss.

"No one you need to know," comes the brusque reply when she repeats her demand, then he adds something she hears more with her sixth sense than her ears; "Hellfires. I knew snowflake should have fixed him and the toddler be damned. Better take him to Genkai's before whatever this is kills him."

"You aren't taking him anywhere without me!" the silver-haired girl growls to _that_, her temper rising to the fore and stopping the spike-haired stranger as he scoops up the delirious Haru. "He's my friend!"

"He's not what you think."

"I know he's a fox spirit! He saved my life the other day! I don't care, you're not taking him anywhere without me!"

"Look," the stranger reasons in a strained voice, "I can only carry one, and you can never hope to match my speed. I swear to you he will come back but I need to take him _now_." Given that all she had seen of his entrance had been that blur Zephyr must take his word concerning his speed, and her own meager knowledge of medicine tells her that Obsidian's sudden symptoms are very bad signs. Reluctantly, she nods, but levels an admonishing finger at the unimpressed stranger.

"If I find out you lied, you are going to be in a world of hurt when I catch up."

"Hn. I doubt that." A faint gust of air is all that marks the dangerous stranger's departure with her friend. With concern and frustration quickening her steps, Zephyr takes off for the main building, scooping up her kitten and the abandoned laptop along the way.

——

It is a matter of minutes before Hiei is at the foot of the long flight of stairs leading to Genkai's temple with Obsidian motionless in the fire apparition's arms. The only sign the fox is still alive is the shallow rise and fall of his chest. One of those breaths later and Hiei has reached the top of the steps, striding quickly towards the main building. Sending his awareness out, he locates the circle of serene 'winter' that is his twin's energy signature then alters his course to intercept her.

"Yukina!" Startled crimson eyes that are a gentle match for his own rise from the bed of herbs, widening as he appears from around a corner, an unknown male lying limp in his grasp. Instantly the koorime maiden rises, not even bothering to dust earth or plant bits off her kimono as she rushes over in full Healer-mode.

"Who is this, Hiei?" she questions softly as she uses the 'sight' peculiar to healers that lets them see auras, finding the stranger's wreath of energy to be dangerously low and shot through with furious red lightning bolts. Not good. "Why is he like this?"

"His name is Obsidian," Hiei tells her as she leads him with his burden into the guest portion of the temple, shooing him into a room empty of all but a futon. "I don't know why he just collapsed, but something on him stinks."

Yukina directs him to place the unconscious fox on the thick feather-stuffed pad, her own keen nose locating the source of that tainted scent as being on his left arm. The sweat-soaked jacket is quickly stripped away as well as the bandages, the sight of the gash making Hiei hiss in dismay.

It's like what he saw at Kurama's, only many times worse. Thick yellow liquid oozes from the wound, the bared flesh within so dark a red as to be nearly black, the mouth puckered and red in the swollen tissue. The veins are a fine tangled web of cherry-red lines beneath the skin, spreading across his arm and up his shoulder.

"Blood poisoning," Hiei murmurs, real fear welling in his heart; that useless emotion is squashed firmly into oblivion with the remembrance that the small female kneeling by the spunky kit is someone who uses a much faster method of healing than mere herbs.

Indeed, at the first touch of the soothing pale blue youki the red lines begin to fade, the swelling to reverse, the yellow pus to simply disappear. Color starts returning to the ashen, elfin face as the muscle begins to knit itself shut under the flow of energy. A deep breath is finally taken, then another, and another as the toxins are cleared from his system. It is a matter of minutes before Yukina is letting her hands drop from their places over the vanished wound with a pleased smile.

"He'll be fine now, Hiei," she tells him in a low voice, directing that smile up at the silent male behind her. "He'll need to sleep to replenish the energy he lost fighting it, but he'll wake up without any side effects at all." Her nose wrinkles a bit. "But you might want to get him washed before he comes to, or else he's going to feel rather horrid."

Hiei just grunts and watches as she leaves him to return to her interrupted chores after flashing him another one of her sweet 'I'm not as innocent as I seem' smiles that he swears she only gives him. Somehow he's always doubted that the angelic koorime maid is as naïve as she acts—one cannot be that pure when one lives in Makai, or you don't survive.

But he turns his attention to the still form lying on the futon, and a small smile curves his lips. Why do all the work when Obsidian can do it just as well himself? The Jagan glows with violet-black energy behind the white bandanna and the fox rises slowly to his feet with blank golden eyes. This is a trick Hiei can only use on unconscious people who are lower in energy than he with poor mental shields to boot.

Using the Jagan to manipulate Obsidian like a puppet, the fire apparition strolls leisurely down the hall towards the bathing room with the entranced kit trailing along behind.

—————————————————————————————

Hmm. I seem to put my characters into life-threatening situations a lot, don't I? Oh, well! At least I gave Hiei a chance to use his Jagan, Zephyr to use her new attitude, and Shiori sounding slightly-less than a bubble-head. Not a bad day's work, I think!

**Ookami:** wolf.

**Koi**: love

**Renard: **male fox


	6. Chapter Five: Surprises Before Breakfast

And now we get to see how our favorite young fox is doing after that little problem with septicemia. (That's blood poisoning!) But first, the reviews responses to my ever-faithful readers! —sparkle-sparkle—

**Darkspirals:** Here's your update, over easy, shug! And I'm glad I'm doing a decent job at getting the characters to interact!

**Kitsune Kit:** Ah, you must mean 'kaze', ne? One of my favorite words in the Japanese language. n,.,n

**Magus784:** Ohh, good! I was _hoping_ you'd say yes! Excellent! The fanfic proceeds as planned! —evil chuckling— Anyway, getting Kohaku to go along really is much easier than having one of the youkai on the Team constantly (ahem!) hounding him—

Starling: That was terrible!

I know, I couldn't resist! n,.,n! Kohaku's opinion of math is pretty close to my own (I actually kinda liked Algebra, but anything beyond that and I tend to get a bit lost…) and as for Aislin's Jagan? Well, we'll see. ;P

**Dolphingirl32173:** —blushes— Thank you very much! And I like your stories, too!

**Silverwing013:** Yeah, the anime and manga don't really give her a chance to show a whole lot of personality, what with her being sick for most of her appearance and all. I thought I'd fix that!

**Asilin Kheldarson:** Self promoting? Why, I have absolutely _no_ idea what you're talking about! —bats eyelashes in innocent manner—

Obsidian: —trying to wriggle loose— Err, what does she mean, 'for the night'? She's not talking about what I think she's talking about, is she?'?

Shiku: Boy, you _have_ been outta the loop, ain'tcha?

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** Maybe you'll get a chance to enter my next contest, whenever and if I have another one. Like I told Magus about Aislin's Jagan, you'll have to wait and see. And yes, Hiei can do that with his Eye, but it's fairly limited so he doesn't get as many chances to use the technique as he'd like. It works best on humans and low-class youkai, as demonstrated in Hiei's debut at the start of the YYH series.

—————————————————————————————

Obsidian wakes to the sound of quiet voices, one the familiar dry tones of Jaganshi-san, the other voice rough as a crow's but undeniably female. Since neither are speaking directly of him, the young renard takes a moment to study his surroundings from his obviously-prone position.

Polished wood forms the ceiling, a relatively uniform warm red-brown shining in the…late afternoon sunlight. That sunlight also pours across white-washed walls and a floor that matches the ceiling. A tilt of his head brings an almost-new futon into his sight, the pine-green quilt pulled up to the middle of his chest. Instead of either his school uniform or his demonic clothes, Obsidian finds himself dressed in an oversized long-sleeved grey shirt and loose black sweats. He briefly wonders who changed him—and by the scent of soap and shampoo, washed him—as well as where the hell he is.

There is the sound of a door sliding open and almost-silent footsteps on the wooden floor. Obsidian opens lethargic eyes again to gaze up at one of the smallest elderly women he has ever seen. If she's even Aislin's height he'd eat a slug youkai raw. Her faded pink hair is allowed to tumble in subtle waves down around her shoulders; her eyes, when he reaches them, are a no-nonsense light brown framed with the lines of age.

He gives a slow blink while she studies him, apparently coming to some decision. What that is, he doesn't get to find out, because she simply nods and leaves again without saying a word. A moment later a very pretty girl who probably stands about 4' 8" pads in with her hands full of a tray. Appetizing scents waft from it, the fox finding the strength to sit up and inhale appreciatively.

"I'm glad you're awake," the girl says sweetly, her voice soft and reminding him nothing short of the religious choirs he'd heard in a European church during the earlier parts of his unorthodox education. Beautiful, entrancing, soothing. Even her scent is unobtrusive, lilies with the faintest hint of vanilla.

He watches while she puts the tray down—noting the bowl full of thick stew—to put a hand to his forehead along with one on his left bicep. Her first smile was angelic. The smile she gives him now is bedazzling. "You've healed remarkably well even with your low reserves. I'm glad! Any friend of Hiei's is one worth helping."

"Thank you, angel," he replies humbly, ears drooping bashfully. He'd called Zephyr 'angel' to tease; with this maiden he means it. This girl with hair the color of a honeydew melon's heart and eyes the color of fresh wine is the closest he's seen to a celestial walking on mortal soil. If she is not an angel, then no one is.

She seems utterly unaware of the effect she's having on the muddled kitsune—though Kohaku would comment on his expression being that of someone who's been poleaxed, then whacked on the head a couple times with the thing. He submits to her every whim, letting her check eyes, throat, and temperature in utter silence. He does thank her with all the manners he can muster when she gives him the stew with the light-hearted remark that she doubts he needs help downing it. "Just try not to choke," is her cheery parting shot.

He follows her advice and eats the rich meal slowly, savoring every expertly-spiced bite with all the relish he'd shown Zephyr's sandwich concoction. His stomach growls impatiently, wanting him to eat faster, but Obsidian takes his time so feels pleasantly full instead of overstuffed by the time he scrapes the bowl clean.

That's when he hears the sound of feet thudding towards him. He has just enough time to set the empty bowl out of harm's way when a lithe body dressed in jeans flings herself at him, bowling him over onto his back with an 'oof'.

"Haru Shinkai Avalon! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Zephyr scolds, sitting up, grabbing the confused fox by the shoulders, and shaking him until his teeth rattle. "Do you hear me?"

"Hai, hai!" he manages. The silver-haired girl releases his shirt then throws her arms around him for another fierce hug.

"Stupid. I thought you were going to die."

"With Healers such as Yukina at hand," Hiei informs her dryly from the doorway, "that is rarely an option allowed us. Let the unlucky idiot go before you suffocate him."

Contrite, Zephyr loosens her hold and Obsidian makes a show of gasping for air, wicked humor shining in the backs of his eyes. His visitor lightly swats him on the shoulder with a frown, expression telling him that this is no laughing matter. "Aw, sorry, fallen angel," he apologizes, "but yanno, the friends I've got won't let me die for a very long time yet."

"If I'd let you the snowflake would've had my hide in the most painful way imaginable," the fire apparition agrees from the door. "Since the ningen wildcat isn't going to rend you to bits or strangle you, I am going to continue to discuss things with Genkai."

"Things?"

Hiei looks back over his shoulder as he walks out. "How long you're going to stay, of course. It's already been three days."

"EH?'?" Obsidian looks to Zephyr for confirmation to find her nodding her head solemnly.

"Three days. I've been worried sick and your fanclub's been frantic."

The kitsune chuckles weakly before a realization makes him freeze. "When you pounced on me—what did you call me?"

Challenge sparks in those cinnamon eyes while her spine suddenly goes ramrod straight. "I called you Haru Shinkai Avalon. I know very well that you're the one who rescued me before, the one those beasts called 'Avalon'. And I _have_ met you before, just not while I'm awake!"

The gold-eyed male rubs his forehead. "Wait, wait, whoa. Back up. How'd you find out, and what the hells are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

A deep breath makes the fox wince; crap, he's in for it. "The day you passed out I saw a bandage on your arm in the same place that the fox who saved me got hurt, it was obviously infected like one would expect from those things, and when I tried to touch it you grabbed my hand and your eyes turned gold like Avalon's which is when I knew you were one in the same and I want to know why you didn't _tell_ me!"

Meekly: "Finished yet?"

"Almost, I haven't explained what I was meant about being awake. For the past couple weeks, ever since I turned seventeen, I've been getting these weird flashes from someone else, someone who lived a long time ago. In them there is a boy who 'feels' just like you do in my head, of fox musk and treasure, who in the end of one of them is labeled as 'Avalon'. The rest of the time he's called 'winsome kit' and I keep getting called 'chibi-Yoko'. It's been driving me crazy; most of the time I get the nightmare and I wake up scared and crying because of something I can't understand!"

Forget about being poleaxed. Obsidian looks as though someone has just told him that every single shiny thing he could ever desire has been put into one giant room for his pleasure and handed him the only key. Now it is Zephyr being hugged tight as laughter burbles from her friend's throat, joy giving him the strength to rise and spin her around the room.

When the borrowed strength runs dry he flops back onto his futon with Zephyr still in his arms and a smile that only a man who's been allowed heaven can wear. "I found you!" he cries loud enough to bring an annoyed Genkai back into the room with Hiei right behind. "I found you I found you I found you! I _knew_ I would!"

"_What_ is he babbling about?" Genkai rasps to the fire apparition, affirming that she was the one he was talking to earlier.

Hiei shrugs indifferently. "The only person I can think of who'd get that kind of reaction out of him at the moment would be who he's been searching for. I mentioned it when you got here."

Genkai nods before turning back to the jubilant fox and his confused friend. "Stop making that racket, you young idiot! You'll only make yourself sick again with all that jumping around."

Obsidian doesn't care; he gives her that same ecstatic smile that won him so many friends in the Lair way back when. "But you don't understand! I _found_ her with _months_ to spare! Oh, I missed you so much, Ivory!" Zephyr finally manages to squirm free, panting and rumpled.

"_What_ are you talking about, Haru?"

"Actually, my name's Obsidian," he corrects her gleefully, "as you'd know if you just had a few more memories, gojuusou-nakama!"

"Nani?'?" A well-aimed knee-cushion smacks into Obsidian's head, both teens turning to find an exasperated and annoyed elderly psychic giving them both a frighteningly intense Look.

"Will you cease this useless racket and explain things to those not in the know, you dimwit?"

——

"So far, the whole tale seems pretty preposterous," Genkai rasps as Zephyr gently slides the door shut behind the two females. Hiei, having already heard the tale, had not bothered to stick around long enough to hear more than the part involving the fortune-teller. The only reason the elderly psychic and the human girl aren't still listening to the story is because Obsidian has fallen asleep again after having worn himself out.

After all, within the last two weeks he has escaped from the Reikai Medium Security Wing, found a portal into the Human World, set up a persona as a human student, rescued a girl from a tree, battled lust youkai, and gotten blood poisoning. All with energy levels equivalent to that of Yusuke when the Spirit Detective had just returned from life the first time—next to nothing. Small wonder he tired quickly.

But the older woman adds reluctantly, "Still, there's you and he for proof enough. Damn, but I hate getting in the middle of politics."

A faint, cheery melody starts playing from the vicinity of Zephyr's pocket, the source being revealed as a stylish little cell-phone when the silver-haired girl pulls it out. "Moshimoshi? Hi, okaa-san. Yes, I was just over at a friend's house. Yes, I'll be home within the hour. Yes, mom. Okay. Okay, bye."

Zephyr sighs hard as she looks towards the ceiling in a gesture of asking for patience before bowing to Genkai. "I'm sorry, I have to go home. My mother is having hysterics about the thought of me out after dark. You'd think I was seven instead of seventeen."

"I'll let the dimwit in there know when he wakes up," is the gruff response. "Better hurry or you'll miss the last bus."

"Right. Thank you!"

"For what?" Genkai calls after her.

"For getting him to make sense!"

Practice at racing over landscape after renegade ghosts stands the budding psychic in good stead now as she sprints outside and bolts down the long flight of stairs to be swallowed by the dusk under the trees. Natural ability grants her vision enough to see her way around or over obstacles such as roots and low bushes in the deep forest. Carefully-built stamina leaves her breathing only a little harder when Zephyr reaches the bus stop just as that last bus pulls up, its door sliding open at her arrival.

Unbeknownst to her Hiei has been following her with his energy as firmly behind shields as he can get it; his respect for her has risen a notch or two during her headlong dash through the forest. Most demons he knows don't have the kind of stamina to run like that—of course, that's not counting anyone over a C-class strength.

And contrary to popular opinion, his morals have not degraded enough for him to allow a potentially-vulnerable being to go through 'his' territory without some form of escort. Although if anyone asks, he'll hide such soft-heartedness behind an excuse that he was contemplating a visit to Kohaku. Reputation still is everything.

Satisfied that the girl has come to no harm and can get herself safely home the rest of the way, Hiei returns to his comfortable tree and gazes up at the stars steadily becoming visible in the moonless sky. Dark-of-the-moon, his favorite time of the month.

By the end of the night, he'll be revising his opinion.

——

"Damn it! Would you freakin' _stop_ already and lemme arrest your ass?" Yusuke yells at the fleeing figure before him, jumping rooftops with incredible ease. The only thing letting him and the others keep track of the runner is that long braid of dark silver flashing in the light of the streetlamps. The rest of the figure is clad in dappled grays that make it almost impossible for them to be seen. "Hiei, can't you do _something_?"

"Already tried, Detective," the fire apparition snarls back. "Damned bastard's so heavily shielded it would take a hundred Jagans to even catch a stray thought!"

Bright, burbling laughter just incites their temper further as the fugitive performs a graceful bound to land on the next roof. All of them had been roused—Kurama as well, though Aislin is absent—from their sleep somewhere around twenty minutes ago, with a long way until morning, by a frantic and furious Koenma who snapped at them all for being lazy sluggards when a youkai thief is robbing a nearby art museum.

So the Tantei had gathered in record time with Kohaku muttering complaints with Yusuke about the injustices of it all in time to start a tail-chase with a fleet silver-haired burglar. Orange light from the electric lamps sparkles off something clenched in one gloved hand—according to Koenma, a statuette of Inari in goddess form made from pure white jade.

"Come on, hunters," the fugitive laughs, voice betraying the thief as female, "can't you keep up? I'm barely breaking a sweat here."

"She's a fox, so help me," Hiei growls to Kurama. "All of you foxes are too damned alike!"

"Games, Games, that demons play, to pass the heavy time away," singsongs the vixen as she virtually dances her way across rooftops, "All is hung on what dice say, won or lost, come what may!"

"I'm going to kill her just to silence that babble!" Tapping into a deeper reserve of energy, Hiei puts on a fresh burst of speed and draws almost even with the vixen, his katana flashing with the lamplight. He barely stops himself in time when she takes a ninety-degree turn to the right, darting out of reach again. But what he'd seen has shaken him; one metallic eye in profile, emptier than a fallen empire's throne.

The chase continues until the business district ends, the fox skidding to a halt when she hits the final roof before a ten-story drop-off. She whirls around as the annoyed—and tired—Reikai Tantei catch up to circle around her. Hiei is up in front with a feral gleam to his cherry eyes.

"You've run outta room," Kuwabara pants, bent nearly double with his hands resting on his knees and a stitch trying to rip his side in two. Yusuke nods, face grim.

"He's gotta point, little thief. Now it's either give up or die." Hiei chooses that as a subtle clue to start edging forward. Then freezes as the face of their quarry is turned up to the light.

Like the Elves Westerners and Europeans talk about so wistfully, so are the delicate cheekbones, the narrow chin, and the broad forehead supposedly denoting large intelligence. Graceful, sweeping brows curve upwards over eyes that, if under sunlight instead of electric, would be a deep reddish-gold flecked with chips of ruby. That thick silver hair tumbles freely around her face as bangs, the rest caught back in that sinuous braid.

Her clothing is simple, the tight-fitting dappled grays of a night hunter crossed with gothic style. Limb-hugging leather pants with a silk shirt tied close around the arms with charcoal silk cord, snugged to her torso with a laced-up vest. Around her hips is the only real color in her costume: a crimson sash that holds a war-fan tucked into the top. Her feet are bare.

Kurama takes a disbelieving step forward, trying to reconcile what he sees now with what he knows. This is a face he hasn't seen for a century; only older, one he thought he'd never behold again. The vixen—for now her ears swivel on top of her head and a tail lashes at her legs—simply smiles that same empty smile that had so disturbed Hiei. And takes a step back so that she stands on the very edge.

"Don't you hunters know?" comes the gentle, cheerfully-admonishing question. "You cannot catch the misted Avalon." Her head tilts back, her body follows, sending her plummeting over the edge before anyone can stop her.

Hiei is first to reach the edge, staring downward at nothing. No body splattered to the sidewalk, no fleeing figure on the street below. Just regular little human specks and toy cars going about their business in the night. The fire apparition doesn't turn as Kurama comes alongside less than a thought-long later, but he has his own statement to make.

"Funny, fox. I was under the impression that the female Avalon was _dead_."

Kurama licks dry lips as he stares down. "Oddly enough, Hiei, so was I."

——

"I want to know what happened tonight." Oversized brown eye flick over to the crimson-maned male brooding silently over in a corner in a particularly Hiei-esque fashion. "And why are you sulking, Kurama?" A flash of dangerous amber eyes makes the child ruler gulp and forget bothering to ask again.

"The statuette was stolen by a previously-thought-dead thief by use-name of the misted Avalon." The two humans and the wolf are too tired from the chase to string together a comprehensive sentence and Kurama is obviously not safe to distract right now, so Hiei is tonight's—or rather this morning's—spokesman. "She disappeared without a trace off a ten-story drop-off. No scent, no energy trail. Nothing."

"Misted Avalon…misted Avalon…" Koenma taps on his desk and a small folder appears under his hand, courtesy of the new filing system-spell Aislin had cast on the thing last year for her own convenience. This way, the koorime wouldn't have to keep waiting for the child-prince to have Jorge the Ogre bring whatever files he needs. "Strange. Her soul was processed and sent to one of the purgatory-style punishment areas. She's supposed to still be there."

Another flash of amber eyes. "Purgatory-style punishment areas?" comes the deceptively gentle purr. Koenma shivers at this manifestation of the ruthless Yoko before answering.

"There's no actual punishment involved, seeing as how little time she'd actually been an active thief, just a little physical labor like what you'd find at some of the milder Shaolin temples. Carrying water, cleaning, gardening. According to the file the soul last labeled as the misted Avalon, aka Ivory Avalon, is not very old, a dozen lives at most. Those tend to have more lenient punishments because they are young and have had so little time to learn lasting lessons."

Satisfied, Kurama once more subsides into his brooding silence. Hiei rolls his eyes at the rather demonic personality shining through that human mask, albeit in understanding at how seeing someone he cared about and had thought dead walking around apparently alive and well could affect him.

"If there's nothing else for us to do, toddler, I have a case that I am to solve waiting for me back in the Ningenkai." Kohaku perks a bit but is unable to gather much energy at the poor hour. She can guess what he's actually going to do: make sure that Genkai hasn't killed the recovering Obsidian or that he hasn't killed himself by trying too much, too soon.

Koenma waves a hand in absent dismissal, already absorbed in his paperwork and the new, complicated puzzle that the reappearance of the misted Avalon has created. The three zombies shuffle out with a few groans or insensible complaints, Hiei stays long enough to poke Kurama and jerk his head silently towards the door. Then watches warily as the kitsune ghosts out, the kajihenge feeling sorry for anyone who crosses the fox's path any time soon.

Hiei has seen that look before. And there are usually bodies to be cleaned up after Kurama has worn it. Damn. Like the fire apparition really feels like handling damage control tonight.

A musical voice speaks up quietly just as Kurama passes the door, Hiei experiencing some relief that Aislin has arrived. If anyone can keep Yoko from ripping anyone or anything up, it's the snowflake. Feeling slightly better about the whole mess Hiei saunters out with his usual 'don't care, piss off' mask in place.

Only Aislin, alert and aware enough despite having her hands full with an emotionally unbalanced life-mate, sees some deeper, unnamable emotion swirling within those eyes the color of white Merlot. Her own jeweled eyes catch her soul-sib's, an unspoken message passing between them. They don't need words to understand each other.

Hiei gives her a nod that more resembles a salute before vanishing around a corner. Aislin allows her soul to plunge into that cold depth within herself that allows her to deal with things involving dear ones deceased—or thought to be—without unbalancing as well, as she wraps her arms around her beloved and teleports them to her cottage. Neither will be getting any more sleep tonight.

——

Zephyr wakes slowly with the last tatters of a delicious dream fading from her memory. Something about running, running how she has always yearned to, fast as the wind and just as tireless, in a race or some kind of game. She'd always had dreams like that, unlike the regressive visions she'd been getting since her birthday last month. They're old and dear friends, like other people's dreams of flying, a sense of freedom she won't feel by herself.

Feeling like the dream is a good omen for the day ahead, she goes through her morning ablutions, changes from her over-sized concert T-shirt (Three Doors Down, a present from a friend in America) into her school uniform, and leaves, calling a cheery goodbye to her mother as she grabs her lunch and books on her way out the door.

She never notices the white jade statuette peeking out from beneath the trailing edge of her sheet on the floor.

——

Obsidian has an equally pleasant awakening, reveling in the combination of weightless arms, silence broken only by birdsong, and the scent of early morning drifting in crisp waves through his cracked window. The fact that Hiei is watching him unblinkingly from the darkest corner does nothing to damp his good mood.

"Ohayou, Jaganshi-san," the kit manages to say, voice soft and rough from sleep. "I'm behaving myself, I promise."

"Hn. That's not what I'm worried about."

The remaining cobwebs burn away in a flood of adrenaline, the fox not liking the other's phrasing one little bit. "Meaning what, Jaganshi-san? What _does_ worry you?"

"Dead people coming back to steal things out of _my_ territory."

Maybe he's not awake enough yet, but that made absolutely _no_ sense whatsoever. So Obsidian blurts the most intelligent thing that pops into his head. "Huh?"

"An Avalon stole a jade carving very early this morning."

"But I didn't…" The youngling trails off, seeing his unexpected ally shake his head grimly, the tranquility shattered beyond repair. Pondering the implications of that, he comes up with something impossible. "No. No way. It couldn't be."

"Even without her declaration of her name, your king's reaction is damning enough. The misted Avalon has been raiding."

Obsidian curls up underneath his blanket, pulling it up so that it wraps around his shoulders, and stares at the fire apparition with the sunlight pouring down on him from the window above. It gives him an angelic nimbus, an impression that this young fox is incapable of anything wicked. "That's not a funny joke, Hiei Jaganshi."

"You can ask the snowflake. I don't joke about death or my obligations."

The only way Hiei can describe the golden eyes peering out from behind rumpled bangs is 'lost'. "But…I watched her die in front of me…And even if she did reincarnate, only a reincarnation like Yoko-sama's would allow her to use _anything_ from her life as Ivory."

"Her sentence and the ongoing punishment is listed in her soul-file. There can be no way, but there is."

"But…I don't…understand."

A heavy sigh as Hiei rises to his feet, face unreadable to the forlorn and confused kitsune cub huddled on the futon, but he offers no stinging retort or the like as he would to such a statement were it delivered by, say, Yusuke or the idiot. Instead, those eyes are uncharacteristically gentle and weary as a hand is run through the white-touched hair/fur. "Well, Avalon, that makes it unanimous."

Changing his mind, the fire apparition slumps back down as exhaustion creeps up on him. Last night was supposed to be his sleep-night for the week, but we all know how well _that_ turned out. "Don't stress out too much," Hiei warns the startled Obsidian as he settles down for a nap against the wall, arm propping his katana against his shoulder. "Yukina would be upset. And don't overdo anything, either. It would annoy me to have her put you back together again."

For a few long moments there is silence that is broken by a very meek comment. "You smell alike, you know."

One garnet eye is cracked open, one ebony eyebrow lifts.

Encouraged in the fact he's not lying in pieces already, Obsidian ventures further. "You and Yukina. You smell alike."

"Do we?" The words are noncommittal, as is the tone.

Obsidian nods several times in childish exuberance. "You do. I mean, on the top you smell different and all. Yukina-dono smells like lilies and vanilla, that flavoring stuff Gre'ich useta put in his sugar cookies. And clean, like fresh snow and winter stuff. You smell…you smell like everything in summer and on winter nights. Furs, fire, really good kinds of wood like cedar. Amber, too. Metal. I dunno…don't know," the kit corrects himself, numerous grammar lessons at Aislin's knee reinforcing themselves, "but you two smell kinda like Aislin-sama and Yoko-sama. Like you could be home." That last is said bashfully, uncertainly, as though Obsidian truly does expect to be struck dead at such personal words.

What he gets is the moon suddenly declaring itself to be bleu cheese. Hiei opens both eyes and gives him a warm smile. "I think that's the first time someone so young has ever considered me as safe as 'home'. It's a pleasant change from being thought of nothing but a cold-blooded killer."

He can't help it. The sight of Obsidian's jaw hanging open on top of exhaustion undoes his usual masks, warm laughter bubbling from his chest to pour from his mouth, head flung back in open mirth. Yukina walks in on that comfortable scene, her own garnet eyes wide but pleased that the normally-stoic fire apparition is laughing so freely.

"Good morning, you two," she says sweetly, the laughter turning into a coughing fit from shock. Hiei hadn't even sensed her coming. "Are you all right, Hiei-san?"

"Fine," is the one word managed between coughs. Getting himself back under control, Hiei watches as Yukina soothes away all confusion by her mere presence alone while arranging Obsidian's breakfast in front of him. It's mostly Western-style dishes like eggs and pancakes, but there's a small bowl of miso as well as orange juice and a fruit the young fox doesn't recognize.

"What's this, Yukina-dono?" Obsidian asks, poking at it with his furry ears perked forward. The koorime maiden smiles at him as she replies.

"That's the Makai's version of an apple, Obsidian-kun." Hiei had filled her in on some things while the fox had been zoned out. Right now, she knows that he is a kitsune named Obsidian and that people are chasing him, so she must keep quiet about his identity. With no one able to enter Genkai's domain without those already on knowing, it has been deemed safe enough for him to relax in his real form in order to remove the tax on his energies maintaining that shift requires. "Kurama-san brought a sapling back during one of his visits and planted it here at the temple. It's a very sweet tree," she adds happily.

"Never saw one of these before. Most of the others weren't big on plant-food." But he picks it up and bites into it. Then starts making funny sucking sounds to keep the juice from escaping his mouth and running down his chin. Yukina giggles and goes over to Hiei, gone cross-eyed with the effort of not laughing at the easily-hurt cub busy with the luscious new food.

"It was nice to hear you laugh, Hiei-san," she tells the startled male quietly. "I hope I get to hear it more often." With that, she leaves to begin her morning chores, as Hiei gives in and roars with laughter at Obsidian, grinning while licking at the fruit and devouring it at the same time.

"You're not supposed to eat the core!"

"'M not?" Obsidian blinks at him in mid-bite. "'S good."

"Get a little farther into it and say that."

"Ack! Ick! Pfuhaw! Bitter!"

More laughter at the outraged expression, a deep green gem chiming to the floor by Hiei's side. "Stick to the outside, cub!"

"You bet! Inari, that's nasty!"

Genkai looks up from her tea at the unfamiliar sound drifting through the compound. "Who's laughing?" she asks Yukina as the maiden walks in with a fresh pot of tea. "I don't recognize it."

"It's Hiei," comes the merry reply, the garnet eyes dancing. "Obsidian actually got him to laugh. Isn't it wonderful? He has a very nice laugh, too."

"Huh. Well, I'll be."

The apple is already a pleasant memory, the black fox starting in on the known but rarely-eaten pancakes with enthusiasm. Hiei, exhaustion momentarily forgotten in this unexpected relaxation, watches as Obsidian digs in like the end of a seven-year famine. "Try adding that liquid over there on top of it, cub. I think it's 'boysenberry' flavor."

"Whazzit?" the young Avalon asks with his mouth full, sniffing at it before drizzling it on a corner of one pancake and nibbling. He answers his own question with a delighted, "'S _good_!"

"You'd think they never fed you at the Lair," Hiei comments mildly, rolling that rare green gem in his fingers.

"Gre'ich stuphed be do burthing," comes the food-muffled reply, then a hard swallow. "Don't feed us much in prison, though. What's this gooey stuff called, anyway?"

"Syrup." Hiei manages to hide the flash of anger from the matter-of-fact statement of mistreatment. A wicked smile then blooms at a particularly enticing thought. "I'll have to get you to try ice-cream. If you think this stuff's good, wait until you taste it."

"Ice-cream? Is it what it sounds like?" Obsidian blinks as that gem lands in reflexively-open hands, staring in wonder at the gift. "Is this mine?"

"Yes, it's what it sounds like, and yes, it's yours." Hiei makes himself comfortable again, letting his eyes drift shut. "Anyone who gets—yawn—me to laugh at all these days deserves the reward."

The young Avalon watches in awe as the ice-born fire youkai slowly drops into sleep, before tucking the jewel into the pocket-space just behind his ear and rising silently. Hiei doesn't even stir when the summer-weight blanket is draped over him, Obsidian taking his meal to the kitchen to finish it in order not to disturb the sleeper. A tiny smile curves the corners of the apparition's lips ever-so-slightly upward.

—————————————————————————————

Aw, Hiei, look! I'm getting you to show your bishie side again!

Hiei: Hn! I am _not_ that soft, damn it! I am a cold-blooded kill…—is given puppy-dog eyes by Kohaku and Obsidian— —sigh— Nevermind…

Gojuusou-nakama: quintet-partner. Meant to translate into one of a 'litter' of five.

Moshimoshi: phone hello

Okaa-san: Mother (polite)

Reikai Tantei: Spirit Detectives

dono: a slightly higher degree of politeness than –san.


	7. Chapter 6: Unexpected Encounters

Sorry this has taken so long to get posted. I was hoping a certain someone would have posted a new chapter as well, though that doesn't seem to have worked. —sigh— I'm too wishy-washy, I can't hold up that threat. Ah, well. The other reason is that my server is being an ass and taking at least an hour to get as far as the little blue tool-bar on homepage. And since AOL (the prick) isn't letting me sign on, once again I am reduced to using library computers for my fanfiction needs. At least I still get my mail.

**Darkspirals:** 1) Believable, hell, it's hard enough getting the porcupine head to cooperate without dicing me into itty-bitty pieces. 2) Nah, not really a good idea. 3) Sore wa himitsu desu! (That's a secret!)

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** Okay, not that soon, but here's another chapter for you to love! I hope you do!

**Magus784:** No, no, what you said yes to is still a long way coming. (Past-chapter-10-long-way-coming.) I thought those were mildly evil, yes, or at the very least not nice, and as for who's real? They both are. Or did you miss the part about the statuette being under her bed and the dream? Maybe I should tweak that chappie and clarify, if I can figure out how to without losing cohesion…—trails off, mumbling various ways one could tweak previous chapter—

**Kitsune Kit:** —Niana facefaults, Aislin glares but doesn't give chase, and Obsidian turns bright, bright red—

**Silverwing013:** Yes, it took a bit longer than I expected to get to that point. Did you know Zephyr started out having a much quieter, much shyer personality? But you see what happens when I give my characters free rein to shape themselves. —Aislin whaps Niana upside the head— OW! What was that for?'?

Aislin: Just because. n.n

**Asilin Kheldarson: **—Obsidian hides behind Aislin— Obsidian: Help! Too many girls interested in THAT!

Shiku: I so envy you, you lucky…—notices Aislin just daring him to say whatever it is—…little renard.

Niana: which mystery? The dreams, the statuette, or the whole Ivory-disappearing-into-thin-air thing?

**KuramaIsFine:** Glad you're back, but I can see how well your plan worked out. n,.,n Joke, joke. Seriously, welcome back!

—————————————————————————————

By afternoon, however, Hiei is the one wide awake and Obsidian is the one drowsing; this time, though, he's stretched out on the back porch, soaking up the sunlight while he watches Yukina garden. The pretty green gem that Hiei had given him is loosely trapped between two fingers after having provided over an hour of total fascination.

In his short life beyond prison, Obsidian had only seen his teacher make these tear-stones, these hiruiseki, once or twice, the ice-fox the only one of Koorime descent he had known before Hiei. He finds himself mildly surprised that another is capable of making valuable shinies out of saltwater. Though the kit knows that _that_ is a foolish, romanticized assumption unworthy of the Winter Rose's pupil.

It must be this damned fatigue that's making his mind wander so, the young fox muses to himself silently as he reaches 'inward' to that well of 'himself', finding the pool dangerously low and murky. Ah, well. He need must only wait a few more days until Summer Solstice and then he can replenish all of his energies fully. Question is, does he have the patience to wait that long?

A snort that causes Yukina to glance over at him in curiosity, finding him apparently asleep on the warm, polished wood, turning back with a smile to her plants. He's waited almost a century to make a thorough escape; what's a few more days?

_Ahhh,_ sighs Obsidian internally, stretching like any contented housecat would as he luxuriates in the feeling of green growing things singing their cycle-melodies into his metaphysical ears. It's a harmony that he's long gone without, and he finds himself suddenly possessed with the need to actually be _among_ the songs instead of just listening to them.

That's an easy enough matter that doesn't require much work. He simply gets to his feet, tucking his prized shiny back into that little pocket-space behind his ear, and ambles over to a particularly thick part of the grass that looks like it's being allowed to revert to wildness for a while. Perfect.

Hiei snickers in his tree as the youngling practically burrows into the greenery, the loosely-clad arms stretching up with the graceful fingers digging happily into the soil. Absolute, lazy, laid-back contentment radiates from the barely visible body sprawled in kitsune style, hidden almost entirely by the long grasses.

_/You look like a fox-skin rug, chibi-kitsune./_ A negligible tail-flick is the only response since all of Obsidian's attention is taken up by the melodies pouring into his head by the equally-happy plants reaching up for the loving, life-giving light being showed upon them. Picking one that's relatively simple being sung by the violets bordering the mixed garden, he tries singing along in a warm tenor.

_"Life, life, growing green and strong. Healthy, happy, cared for. Stretch-stretch up, dance with wind, embrace sun. Life, life, life. Stretch down roots, dig them deep. Drink the water, eat the light. Life, life, life. Open leaves, open flowers, friends the bees and birds sing too. Growing, growing, reach out give joy. Life, life, love. Life, life, love."_

Even the Dark Forest seems to fall silent as the young voice sings as carefree as the plants do, feuds between all the lesser youkai and ghosts living among the trees momentarily forgotten in the spell of that simple, joyous melody.

_"Life, life, we sing for you. Happy, happy, feel the sun and rain. Touch the wind and sing it sweetly. Sap is running, life is flowing. Life, life, life. Season giving, season passing, we grow strong and swiftly. There are birds, they fly together. Bees are buzzing, life is making. Life, life, life. Colors subtle, cousins flashy, scents are singing you to us. Life, life, life. Life, life, life. Life, life, love."_

_"Life, life, love,"_ intones a second voice, this one a sweet alto. A raven head pops out of the grass at the sound, golden eyes eager as the white-clad woman approaches with a brilliant smile lighting those beloved turquoise eyes.

"Shishou!"

"Sensei," Aislin corrects gently as she crouches by her student, that smile never fading. "The plants here like you, winsome kit. They're singing louder for you."

"_I_ like it here," he replies with enormous content. "Genkai is like Gambit back at the Lair. Cranky, but they'll both defend their people even if it kills them." Aislin's smile grows a little wider at the thought of the fox-wolf youkai who probably tops even her own millennia by a handful of centuries, still living at the Lair last time she checked (a few months ago on a vacation) training what fighting skills he could into the newbies. Gristled, scarred, indeed cantankerous, he'd earned his name from the numerous risks he'd take to get any of his team out in one piece when raids would go sour—and the fact that he would survive them with little more than a new scar to scare the newbies with. To have him be compared with Genkai is a mildly unflattering, but childishly accurate effort.

"I'm not certain if I should take that as an insult or a compliment," comes an amused raven-harsh comment as said elderly psychic emerges from within the temple. "Who is 'Gambit'?"

Obsidian just continues to smile brightly and draw the life-songs around him like a security blanket as Aislin turns her own charismatic smile up at her friend. "Gambit is a fox-wolf back at the Lair. He's our Weaponsmaster and a teacher to anyone to comes into the gang. He's got a personality like yours and he takes just as much pleasure as you do whacking sense into his students. The only difference is that somehow he gets them to love him for it within the first few days instead of a few months." That smile takes on a thoughtful edge. "Maybe it's because he's such a good lodestone for hero-worship. He's older than me and he treats everyone like family, tells the newbies about his battle-scars and how he got them, jokes, gambles, welcomes questions, and will do absolutely anything to keep whatever raiding team he's in in one piece."

"Like you, only you're a lot more lemony about it," Obsidian pipes, not wilting under the weight of the measuring look Genkai favors him with. "There's lots of anger drifting around, but it's not hate-anger, it's exas…what's the word?"

"'Exasperated'," Hiei supplies from his tree-perch. Aislin's smile turns into a grin flashed up at him along with a wordless wash of affection.

"Thank you! Exasperated-anger. Like whoever's making it wants to go bang their head on a wall."

"Genkai-san often has that effect on Yusuke-san," Yukina giggles, amused at the description. It seems to strange to her that this youngling would be wanted by Reikai—he's far too sweet and too young, really, to have deserved such a long sentence in a prison.

Genkai's wrinkled mouth twists upwards into a wry smile. "The dimwit brings out the worst in me. How does he expect to get anywhere if he keeps using the method of 'punch now, don't bother asking questions later'?"

"This is Yusuke we're talking about, Genkai," Aislin puts in merrily. "I highly doubt 'later' is a concept he bothers with."

After snorting at the apt opinion, Hiei speaks up again. "How's Kurama, snowflake?"

That amusement disappears. "He's doing better than he was at two this morning. It took me until dawn to soothe Yoko back under his human mask as well as clear away that headache-inducing maelstrom he had his emotions tangled in."

"Yoko-sama reacted badly, didn't he?" Obsidian asks meekly from his grass-patch. Aislin ruffles his hair with an absent-minded nod.

"Yes, but it was to be expected under such circumstances. I came over from school to check up on you now that Hiei's filled me in on what I've missed," she tweaks one ink-black silky ear gently, "like your blood poisoning. I'm sorry, Obsidian. If I'd known you'd have such a violent reaction even with the medication I'd have healed you myself and consequences be damned."

"You're only mortal, Aislin-sama," consoles Obsidian. "We all make mistakes. So Yoko-sama is feeling better now?"

"Yes, I left him sleeping at his human mother's home. Shiori may not know about youkai or Reikai or any of that, but she knows Kurama is in no state to be irritated by anything right now. I tried getting him to come here for a nap, at least, but you know Yoko. Stubborn as hell when he wants to be." A bothered shrug from the ice-fox. "Oh, well. Hopefully he won't rip up his bed-sheets while I'm gone. How are you faring now, winsome kit?"

"Good. I can't wait for the Solstice, though."

Another affectionate hair-ruffle. "I'll bet. That'll really get you recharged, real quick."

"Why is that, Aislin-san?" Yukina asks, up to her elbows in mint.

Surprisingly, it's Genkai who answers, her tone gentle for the koorime maiden. "Because he's a fox, and all foxes are especially attuned to shifts of natural balance whether their primary abilities lie with plants or not. Youko especially so, since all of them are plant-manipulators. And since the Summer Solstice is the major shift for life-energy, these two and the red-head are going to be bouncing off the walls day after tomorrow."

"I'll try to restrain myself," Aislin retorts dryly. "However, you won't have to deal with a hyper Obsidian; with as low as my winsome kit's reserves and usable energies are, it'll take that much of a nature-based boost to kickstart his energy centers."

At Yukina's horrified look Obsidian hastens to reassure her. "It's not that bad, really, Yukina-san. It's just that with the draining-seals on my restraints continually sucking away my youki, my body got used to surviving on the bare minimum and let all my reserve-spaces dry up. They'd come back naturally, but with the Summer Solstice it'll be like I was never jailed."

"You said they hardly fed you on top of that, foxling." No need to guess where _that_ thrilled comment came from.

Aislin rolls her eyes. "They likely wouldn't have let him miss a single meal, but I doubt the cooks have any proper idea of how much a growing child—and a renard on top of it—can eat at one sitting. Has he been getting properly stuffed while I've been away?"

"You can help with the dishes he makes if you're so concerned about how we're taking care of him, Aislin," Genkai offers slyly with an edge of annoyance to her raven-harsh voice. "I know how much youngsters eat, Winter Rose. It stands to reason a youkai youngster would need to eat more."

Gurgle. "Um…speaking of which…" Aislin's silvery laugh echoes over the garden as she pulls a hungry Obsidian to his feet.

"Come on, then, I'll bet you're craving something good and hot, right?" At his eager nod the mixed-blood laughs again and gently steers him towards the Dark Forest. "Don't save dinner for us, Genkai, Yukina-chan. We're going to indulge our carnivorous side today. Hiei, do you feel like coming with us?"

"I grew tired of eating things bloody and raw a long time ago," is the almost prim reply from the tree. "Go stuff yourself."

"Ah, well, if you change your mind there's plenty of prey to be had." And the two kitsune disappear into the forest just beyond the Moon Gate. Yukina peers anxiously after them until she wins a warm chuckle from the resting fire apparition.

"Don't worry about either of them, Yukina-san. Worry more for the poor sod who's not going to see sunset."

——

Hiei's advice is sound, but doesn't filter through the thick undergrowth to the ones who really need it. Silent as shadows, two sleek foxes the size of German Shepherds drift through the tangled black-berry thickets and the strangle-vines embracing the remains of their unwary or too-slow victims. They easily pass among the thirsty Blood-Thorns, skirt the single patch of demonsbane that is all Genkai allows in this place—it's warded to the seven hells and heavens to keep browsers out so that the hunters won't have to worry about _that_—and finally take cover beneath a particularly thorny wild rose.

Beside the round-eared Arctic fox, the dappled black kit stretches happily one leg at a time, getting himself used to the feel of his most natural form. This is the body that takes no energy or effort to maintain—the only problem had been that the switch is a lot more 'visible' to aware eyes and would have been like holding up a sign shouting 'Here I Am!'. Which he will certainly _not_ be doing, thanks ever so.

Of course, even a natural form will feel stiff when you haven't been in it for a few decades. An indulgent lick to the side of his head makes the kit pay attention to the area around him. The two had already passed by the bat-youkai what's-his-name, an E-class that both had agreed wasn't worth their time. But now…

Stepping gracefully into the clearing in front of the hidden hunters is a real deer. Not a youkai, just one of the herds usually off-limits except during certain times of the year. The bucks and the does past bearing age are fair game during those periods, one of which began yesterday. Thankfully, only a few real youkai have actually made the Dark Forest their home, so the deer population doesn't really take that much of a drop when the bans are lifted.

Impatient, Obsidian wriggles his hips and receives an admonishing swat via paw to his head as an order for stillness. He subsides as turquoise eyes calculate distance, age of the doe, possible speeds, and all the other little details that are needed to make this a successful kill.

The doe hasn't noticed them yet—nor should she, since she is upwind of the kitsune and they are hidden quite well beneath the trailing branches of the rose bush—as the she picks her way into the middle of the sun-dappled clearing. Obsidian bunches himself as his mentor does and they leap from behind the thorny runners, slamming into the doe to ride her down to the ground.

The kit grabs onto a hind leg while Aislin takes the throat, crossing the powerful limb with the other and snugging both tight to the heaving torso, keeping the sharp hooves from flailing into either hunter. Within just a few minutes the last breath is taken, the large body falling still under the jaws of the kitsune.

Despite the fact that no more fresh blood is pumping into her mouth, Aislin releases her hold but gingerly, making certain that the deer isn't going to spring up and bolt unexpectedly. Her pupil has already released the limp hind leg and sits by the doe's hindquarters, eyes as impatient as his lashing tail, but he remembers the manners Aislin has taught him about 'breaking into' a kill before permission is given.

(("Now?")) he begs in Kitsune, voice deeper and pitched strangely due to the differences in a fox's vocal cords and a humanoid's.

(("Yes, now. Eat before your stomach scares off the rest of the game,")) Aislin laughs, watching as Obsidian instantly sets to. She makes one last check for intruders or scavengers before she, too, starts eating.

They're halfway through their meal when Aislin raises a blood-stained muzzle into the air, scenting the breeze blowing around them as her hackles rise. Obsidian yips when his own scent changes as well as his fur, turning sharper to match his sudden rusty hue. Aislin times things well, for no sooner has the illusion settled than a pack of five wolves separate themselves from the tree-shadows.

The alpha is a male with charcoal-brindle fur and butter yellow eyes, the tell-tale sign of a descendant of lightning. The young renard knows what's important and continues eating while Aislin growls a declaration of their kill to the wolf youkai that shouldn't even be here.

(("Back off, moon-chasers. This is ours, and we don't feel like sharing."))

The alpha steps forward, a faint aura of electricity lacing faint yellow bolts across his fur. His body-language is amused as he replies in Canid, the precursor of the canine and vulpine languages//"Neither do we. So get lost, snow-walker."/

Obsidian nearly chokes on a piece of venison at the unoriginal slur. If this guy thinks that he can beat _his_ master, the wolf has another thing coming. The alpha-bitch swaggers forward a few steps, her ears flat, teeth bared as she glares at the black fox. /"Something funny, little one-tail?"/

The young renard swallows his bite before he grins at the female, muzzle dripping blood. /"You moon-chasers would have better luck tryin' to lick a dragon than whupping my sensei! She's the strongest around!"/ Then he reburies his teeth into the tender belly-meat of the doe.

/"That ain't sayin' much, cub,"/ another wolf growls insultingly. /"Just a bunch of weak dregs 'round here."/

/"Genkai would hardly allow much stronger creatures to dwell so close to her temple,"/ Aislin tells them dryly while licking crimson stains from her chops. /"Nor would I, for that matter. Now get lost before I send you back to Makai with your bobbed tails between your legs."/

/"But we're _hungry_!"/ cries the omega, a little tan-coat female with amber eyes.

/Then go kill your own. There's no ban on venison today, pick an old doe or any buck and eat it, I don't care. But you will not deprive my blood-starved kit his first raw meat in years."/

/"Some teacher, snow-walker."/

/"Leave her alone!"/ Obsidian barks. /"It's not her fault the toddler caught me! His stupid cooks don't know what to feed a kit, either."/

Mild interest shines in the wolves' eyes at the mention of the toddler. The alpha sits, a signal that he's no longer interested in the deer just a yard or two beyond him. The other wolves relax, lying down in the lush grasses that somehow grow here despite the relative lack of sunlight. /"How'd you get loose, kit?"/

/"Sensei got me out."/ Not entirely a lie. Aislin had told him exactly what to do if he'd ever gotten caught, and he'd followed each instruction carefully. An approving sideways glance from the oversized white fox in front of him for his quick thinking.

Appraising yellow eyes study the unruffled vixen now cleaning blood from a front paw. /"And just who are you, vixen?"/ Another good sign for the wolves; they'd dropped the slur for any species hailing from the frozen lands of Makai.

/"I was once known as the Winter Rose."/ No need for her to give a clan name or location; there's only been _one_ Winter's Rose of any renown, and that is her. And indeed, her old thief-name has the expected reaction. New respect glowing within those butter-yellow eyes, the alpha male rises long enough to give her an elegant wolf-court bow before sitting again.

/"I sit rightly rebuked, Queen of Thieves,"/ he tells her calmly with one ear tilting to one side. /"But rumor held that you were as dead as your mate."/

A luxurious stretch, the motion for great amusement. /"Much to many's disappointment, I'm sure, but reports of our deaths have been greatly exaggerated."/

/"Ah,"/ the male sighs//"'Yoko has returned,' they cry."/ Unwittingly, the wolf has repeated word-for-word what Kurama had said when he first shifted back to his true kitsune form during his first Dark Tournament. The shift hadn't been voluntary, but it had saved him from becoming sashemi on the concrete floor. /"That makes welcome hearing."/

/"Indeed. Now, your name and clan, stranger, since this _is_ my territory you're walking on."/

A proud lift of the handsome, shaggy head as he looks around at his people arranged as neatly as any formal court around him. /"I am Suishō Inazuma, and we are all that remains of the once-great clan of Crescent-Blade. My life-mate, Nadeshiko Kazeuta/ the alpha-bitch, a pale gray-brindle, nods gracefully//and my children Takumi, Takara, and Suzume."/ In turn, the beta who'd snorted at the forest denizen (glossy brown), the still-silent male (medium gray-brindle), and the omega bow. A fatherly smile towards his youngsters as they keep to their places around him. /"My cubs are not yet quite old enough to pick their own use-names, but I haven't heard too many complaints about what I've named them."/

/"What _we_ named them,"/ Nadeshiko corrects genially. What no one else seems to have noticed is that Obsidian has stopped filling his stomach and is staring at pretty little Suzume with wondering eyes. She lets her ears droop, tucking her head close to her chest in a gesture that would be replaced by a blush if she were in human form.

Takara notices his sister's embarrassment, following her gaze to the handsome young renard just staring at her like he'd been whacked on the head a few times. With a canine grin he looks over at Takumi, twitching his ears to get his older brother's attention. When the eldest's honey-amber eyes flick over, Takara tilts his head towards his sister, then the fox.

Takumi looks, an equally-impish grin folding his upper lip up. But when Suishō looks over, the wolf-cubs are all looking studiously at the ground or the tree-branches and the fox is studying the hole he's made in the deer. A bemused ear-flick before he returns to his conversation with Aislin.

Instantly the four youngsters are grinning at each other, Obsidian tilting an ear off to the side. _Slip off?_

The three wolves glance at each other. Trust a fox? But Suzume gives the slightest nod and the four youths somehow manage to escape their figurative leashes, trotting a good ways away before sitting in a much more casual circle than before.

/"Hey, renard, like what you see?"/ Middle-triplet Takara queries cheerfully at Obsidian, teeth bared in a friendly grin.

/"Um…"/ Now it's Obsidian's turn to blush, with Suzume following his example. /"Well…"/

/"Ah, ignore the match-maker over there,"/ laughs Takumi, thumping his tail on the ground. /"Our sister's pretty, you're male. No surprise, yeah?"/

/"Takumi!"/ Suzume gasps, ears flattening in shock. /"Mind your manners!"/

/"Why? We're landless and the last of our clan. My manners among peers vanished with our cousins."/ Takumi rolls a shoulder in a lop-sided shrug before looking back over at the renard gazing once more at his sister. /"So, renard, what's your name?"/

/"I'm using the name Haru right now. My real name's not good to banter around, you see. Toddler's hounds are still on my trail."/

/"Crossing water didn't work?"/ Takara asks, using the slang for traveling to different worlds.

/"Nah, and I won't have the energy to hop to the shaded bank 'til Long-Day."/ Makai, Summer Solstice. /"You?"/

/"Father wanted to find us some safer territory here in Ningenkai since some ancestral enemies have been hunting us, but if people like your sensei are around, we're safer off with them."/

Obsidian scratches at one ear, body-language reassuring. /"Nah, sensei's not that bad. She's really a great person once you get past that ice-shell of hers. Me'n my sister have learned a lot from her."/ He grins over at a 'blushing' Suzume when a faint growl comes from her stomach, his ears flopping in different directions. /"Huh, I guess you guys really are hungry, huh? C'mon, while our folks are talking I c'n show you another deer-trail. If we're lucky, maybe we can get another deer and they can have that one."/

The others rise willingly as Obsidian bounds off to lead the way, some of his energy restored with the life-strength of the deer spreading from his belly outward. Takumi takes second-point, his head cocked to one side as they lope through the brush. /"Why help us, Haru?"/

A rolling shrug. /"Cause I know what it feels like to be hungry. I wasn't kidding when I said the cooks for the prison were incompetent."/ He stumbles a bit as the illusion of his red fur shatters into platinum dust that vanishes before it hits the ground, ears going flat. /"Damn. I went too far. Hopefully sensei won't come chasing after me for a while yet 'cause I left without permission. I've been scolded enough this week."/

Behind him, the siblings exchange looks. They hadn't heard of the Ice Fox taking a red-fur, but everyone worth their ruffs has heard of her black-furred student who had mysteriously disappeared last century. So he'd been taken by Koenma? He's got all the luck of his race, then, whether the Ice Fox had helped him or not. The Reikai Prison is the nightmare of every thief, con artist, and monger of Makai, even if one discounts the rumors and half the stories.

But those issues wash from their minds as the hunger takes over, speeding their feet as they follow the blur of shadow before them.

—

/"Our youngsters appear to have run off on their own."/

/"So they have, Ice Fox. Shall we worry about them yet?"/

/"Heh, no. Worry more for the poor sod who won't be seeing sunset. Since I have no more need to feed my bloodlust and there's still plenty of venison, it would please me if you would partake of that most excellent meat sitting over there."/

/"And it would please us to accept your most gracious invitation."/

—

From around the carcass of the unlucky stag, the young wolves keep sending glances towards the curled up ball of shadow against a tree, the furred sides rising and falling in easy rhythm. (("You know, for a student of the Ice Fox he sure tires out quick, Takumi."))

(("Don't be dense, Takara. Didn't you hear? He's been in Reikai Prison for the last century. They stick these seal-shackles on you that suck out most of your strength so you won't escape. If he's been in there for ten decades, then his reserves and stamina would've shrunk from disuse.")) Chomp. Gulp. (("'Sides, this is the second deer he helped bring down. They're stubborn with just four, pains in the ass when it's two. Let him nap."))

(("I think he's really brave,")) Suzume whispers with her nose close to her bite-marks. (("He got out and came here, where there's that Spirit Detective."))

(("Mh.")) Takumi nods while he chews off a piece of shoulder. (("I hope our parents and the Ice Fox let us stay here. I like Haru. He's a good guy for a fox."))

They all look up when a strong energy abruptly stops above them, to find a certain pair of crimson eyes gazing back. "Well, well, a trio of ookami youkai in my forest." A flick to the 'lump'. "What did you do to the cub?"

Surprisingly, it's Suzume who speaks up. "We wore him out, I'm afraid. But he got his fair share. Our folks are back that way," a gesture with a paw, "talking with the Ice Rose."

"Ice Rose? Oh, the snowflake." Some of the anger in those eyes drains away, the owner dropping into a feather-light crouch right next to the sleeping Obsidian. "If she's cleared you, I won't take your hides." They are dismissed from his attention. Hiei turns to the sleeping fox and nudges him with a booted foot. "Hey. Baka chibi-kitsune. Wake up. You've got a visitor back at the temple. Hey."

"Mzzrph?" That sleek black head is lifted, the golden eyes blinking sleepily at the sight of the put-out fire apparition standing over him. "'Lo, 'yey."

"Zombie. You're as bad as Kohaku."

"Uh? Oh. 'ood 'oon 'kami."

"Yes, the Blood Moon ookami. Get up and come on, I hate playing messenger-boy." But Obsidian has already fallen back into the arms of sleep. The two male wolves are snickering at the young fox while Suzume just rolls her eyes and huffs.

"No, sir, you wake up boys like this." Walking over, she whispers into the silken ear, "Look, Haru, there's a naked fox-girl over there with lots of food to share with you."

"Food? Where?" The brothers burst into peals of laughter, rolling onto their backs in their human forms, arms wrapped around their ribs, as a fully-alert Obsidian looks around for the promised edibles. "Food?"

"Baka kitsune."

"Oh, hello, Jaganshi-san. Why are you here?"

"Hn. If I didn't come 'fetch' you I'd have to deal with that fuda-wielding friend of yours in a snit. Get your ass back to the temple."

"Oh. Okay. You three want to come? If you're going to live in the Forest then you might as well meet Genkai." The three wolves look at each other and shrug; if their parents are still in a discussion with the Ice Rose, then what's the harm? It would save time, too, time which they could use to stake out the forest as theirs. They turn to Obsidian and nod, the fox rising smoothly to his feet and once again leading the way while Hiei vanishes, presumably ahead of them to find a good place to watch the 'fireworks'.

But even Obsidian is in for a surprise, warned only by the briefest touch of dismay against his mental shields that had been crafted for him by Aislin to switch along with the wolves into his human form. And a good thing, too, for standing easily with Zephyr in the temple courtyard is Yusuke and Kuwabara, both looking curious as to why this girl would be here.

"Yo, Haru. Who're these three?"

"Haru!" Pounce! The tired fox's face turns red as he tries to disentangle himself from the relieved girl, a grin lighting his face when he spies the case for his laptop lying where Zephyr had been standing. "Where have you been?"

"Showing the new neighbors around the forest," is the meek reply while the trio of wolves laugh at his discomfiture. "Hey, leggo, Zephyr, I gotta breathe!"

"Oh, sorry." Yusuke and Kuwabara snicker at Obsidian, but straighten their expressions when Zephyr turns to glare at them. "Something funny, boys?"

"Nothing!" they both squeak, "Nothing at all!"

"That's what I thought." It's her turn to blink when Obsidian catches her by the wrist and begins to tug her towards the temple. "Eh?"

"Come with us, Zephyr, I need to introduce these three to Genkai-sempai." The black fox snags his laptop and jerks his head in a clear signal for the triplets to follow after him then walks into the temple's main hallway. The wolves are quiet as they look around them in awe of the scale of the ancient building—not to mention that it belongs to the greatest living psychic of the current time.

"This place is huge," Takumi breathes as they pass through one of the training rooms, looking up, and up, and up to the ceiling. "All this space for one human?"

"Well, one human, a koorime maiden, and a one-tailed fox." A half-grin. "Oh, and a sometimes really off-kilter fire apparition. Hiei's really a great person, but he relies on his masks too much."

"Don't let Hiei hear you say that," a gruff voice warns him from a side room. Obsidian backtracks then enters, pulling Zephyr behind him. The wolves trail behind like ducklings to cluster around him as they stare at the old woman sitting at a low table. "You know he likes his image."

"Heh, good point, Genkai-san. These three are Takumi, Takara, and Suzume of the Cresent-Blade clan. They've come here looking for sanctuary with their parents."

"And the girl is Zephyr, if I recall correctly."

"Hai. Hello again, ma'am."

A faint smirk as the worn brown eyes assess the new arrivals, taking in the slightly-tattered clothing and clean faces. There's dirt on their hands and faint smears of blood around their mouths and necks from killing the deer, but it looks more like _they_ were the ones under attack. "Rather ragged lot, if you'll excuse the phrase, boy—" Obsidian shrugs at the reference to his thief name "—and certainly not the most impressive I've seen. Where _are_ your parents?"

"Last time we saw them the Ice Rose had them in a discussion about something or other," Takara says with a shrug. "Haru here took us hunting for the first meal we've had in a couple of days; some old enemies of the clan have reared their heads to wipe out our family. Us and our folks are the only ones left of the Crescent-Blades."

"I'm going to go see if Yukina's got anything sweet in the kitchen, Genkai-san. Is that all right?"

"Go, go." One aged hand is batted at him. "Younglings and sweets, I swear."

"Arigatou, Genkai-san. Come on, Zephyr, you gotta see what Yukina-san _cooks_!" A cheery wave over at the trio. "See you later, guys, and don't worry; Genkai doesn't bite unless you're really stupid." A wry chuckle from the old woman as Obsidian exits the room with Zephyr once again in tow.

Once the fox gets the girl several hundred feet down the corridor towards the kitchen, he leans back against the wall with a relieved sigh. "Huh, that worked."

"What are you talking about, Obsidian?"

Golden eyes gleam in the dim light of the hallway. "Getting you here, with me, without anyone else nearby. Do you want to go exploring, fallen angel?"

"Obsidian, you're scaring me."

"Heh, sorry, Zephyr. It's just that this will be tricky enough without attracting attention from people who would try to stop us."

"Stop us? Stop us from going where?"

An odd look makes his golden eyes glitter. "From going home."

—————————————————————————————

Obsidian, you sneaky fox. But can he get away with it without alerting anyone else? Like Aislin?


	8. Chapter 7: Homecoming and Explanations

Thank Inari, I currently have access once again to the site and I pray to all that's holy it stays that way! So I'm uploading the chapter while I have the chance! Enjoy!**  
**

**Arano Honou:** Uh, hello? It's _fanfiction._ Everybody say it with me, now. Fan. Fiction. Who gives a shyte whether or not someone's not in character? Hell, Hiei would _never_ act this way in the anime, not in a million…well, maybe a million years, if Kurama and he would just get off their arses and admit there's a wee bit more than friendship in that relationship of theirs. Maybe. So ignore whoever told you that and write the story however you damn well want to. If they don't like it, screw them, 'cause they don't have to read it. —nods sagely— Meanwhile, tell your lazy muse to get in gear and smack some inspiration into that head of yours. n,.,n

**KuramaIsFine:** And here ya go, another dose of our favorite adorable little (currently) one-tailed black fox-boy!

**Darknesspirals:** Well, see, the explanation is really in this chapter, which is why I suppose it confuzzled everyone to the —th level of Hell. Albeit, the explanation is simple, possibly overly-so, and delivered by a tired, slightly-woozy fox who wasn't there for any of it. (I still love Zephyr's reaction!) As for the threat, no, that was for Arano, not you. No worries!

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** You'll see, and no, she doesn't have everything back yet. Key word: yet!

**Silverwing013:** You'll get the answer to that in about a paragraph.

**Kitsune Kit:** Obsidian: T.T But…but…_brownies_! I wasn't gonna sneak off without telling _anybody_! Can I at least have one? Pretty, pretty please? —Kohaku grins and shares hers— n.n-! Brownies!

Niana: What? Don't I get one? T,.,T (-,.,n)

**Asilin Kheldarson: **The Avalons lived at the Lair, in a room of their own fairly close to the quarters of Aislin and Yoko—not to mention the bathroom. One of the perks of being a child in a place full of good-hearted scoundrels: they know how bad a kid can need to go and accommodate. n,.,n —Obsidian sighs with relief while munching his brownie—

**Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover:** This is in response to your review on Spring's Fire. No, it wasn't on purpose. In the Makai, Yin and Yan are likely very common names because so many are born in a balance: black/white, twins that are mixed genders, etc. Aislin and Hiei happened to pick those because they were simply a good alias back then. The Lightning twins were named that because of their coloration and personalities.

**Magus784:** Obsidian: But I DIDN'T, damn it! Niana, this is all your fault! Now everyone thinks I'm insane or stupid!

Niana: Well, they'll all be proved wrong when they read this chapter, now won't they? Siddown and eat your brownie. As for the possible reason everyone seems to have read 'crescent-blade' somewhere in my stories might be because of the tattoos all Blood Moon members have: a red crescent moon on their biceps. Since that was put directly next to the name of the two clans, people might have gotten it confused. Or someone else already came up with the name and you all read it and forgot where. n,.,n

———————————————————————————————————

Obsidian takes a deep breath as they slip out one of the back gates, his senses locating neither Aislin nor Hiei nearby, but he's taking no chances. "Jaganshi-san? I'm sure you're somewhere close. There's no way you'd hang around the boys unless you absolutely have to."

"Perceptive child," Hiei says in amusement when he drops out of a tree not ten feet away. "Now where would you be slipping off to?"

"The hell if I know," an annoyed Zephyr mutters. Obsidian flashes her an apologetic smile before turning back to the smaller male.

"Hiei, how would you like to see the Makai again?"

"I'd be violating my parole."

"And that bothers you? You'd be seeing your homeland again, smelling the air," a more predatory smile, "running loose."

"Hn. You drive a hard bargain, kitsune. What's the catch?"

"Don't tell anyone what I'm doing."

"Which would be what?"

Obsidian points at the silver-haired girl behind him. "Taking her with us."

The garnet eyes rake across her as one eyebrow lifts. "To her death?"

"No! The hole I'm using comes out close to the Lair; and anybody with me gets a free pass among us. Deal, Jaganshi-san?" The utter desperation in the golden eyes seems to cement something in the fire apparition's mind because he nods, a sly smile turning his own garnet eyes darker.

"Why not? Besides, following you will give me an excuse to slip the toddler's leash for a change."

"And the boss?"

Hiei straightens as he closes his eyes, breathing deeply for a moment before opening them again with a nod. "Heading for the temple with the two adults. We have time."

"Good. Let's go."

"How do I get myself into these things?" Zephyr wonders aloud as she is picked up by Hiei and the two apparitions speed off.

It doesn't take long. Five minutes later and a panting Obsidian stops them by the huge tree just beyond the Dark Forest; it's the place that Genkai had once waited for would-be students to reach her during a race. The plant reaches up a good forty feet with heavy branches spread wide to soak up as much sunlight as possible. Hiei sets an exhilarated Zephyr on her feet to watch the fox sniff around carefully until he stops halfway around the tree from where the others wait.

"Here." And he reaches out with fingers splayed, sinking his claws into nothing to rip down. Zephyr stares as cool air puffs from the hole, smelling of damp stone overlaying decaying wood. Then he looks over at the fire apparition in concerned curiosity. "Hiei?"

Hiei flashes him a smug little smile that he's perfected over the centuries. "I've learned a trick or two from the snowflake. Worry more about yourself."

"Come on, fallen angel. We should return this to its rightful place." Zephyr stares when Obsidian pulls a statuette of white jade from beneath his oversized sweatshirt. It looks exactly like the one she'd had in her dream last night.

Amusement mixed with high distaste narrows garnet eyes. "Where did you get that, kitsune?"

Obsidian points at Zephyr. "From under her bed."

Blink, blink. "My _what_?"

"Hn. When on Earth did you find the energy to get there?"

"Why was it under _my bed_?"

Hiei rolls his eyes as Obsidian quickly explains while he uses gentle shoves to get Zephyr into the portal. "You remember me mentioning you're a reincarnation? Well, apparently you somehow reverted into Ivory, snuck into some human art museum, swiped this, stashed it, and went back to being human all in the matter of a couple of hours. Now come on, Zephyr! Before the boss catches us and I get my ass hauled back to jail!"

She blinks as she passes through a gold mesh stretched across the polished granite tunnel with Obsidian close on her heels. They wait while Hiei pauses on the far side, several round stones being produced from within the fire apparition's black tunic. These are tossed into the air but to Zephyr's amazement they do not fall; rather, they hang there glowing with violet-red light as Hiei walks through the netting.

The jewels follow, tumbling into the kajihenge's ready palm once they pass through, the light going out of them as though they are candles instantly snuffed. Obsidian nods in respect at the number of the jewels needed to contain D-levels of energy to allow Hiei passage through the Kakai barrier—more than a dozen hiruiseki were dangling in the air but a moment ago.

Zephyr squeaks as she is once more scooped off her feet, this time by Obsidian as he draws what energy he can around him and takes off in that infamous ground-eating sprint. Hiei keeps up this time due to the kitsune's underlying exhaustion shortening the Avalon's stride.

A feeling of cobwebs across their faces is the only warning they have before the tunnel abruptly ends in an ancient forest that sounds remarkably quiet to the trained ears of the two apparitions. Obsidian instantly finishes going back into human-fox mode, his ears twitching as he listens to the breezes blowing around them and he sets Zephyr on her feet. "Oh, good," he breathes, his knees giving way beneath him. "Nothin' around 'cept friends."

"Friends?" But Hiei's inquiry is too late; Obsidian, worn from the running and opening the portal, has been once again reclaimed by sleep. "Feh. Damned kitsune. They _never_ give you an answer unless they bloody well _feel_ like it."

"Halt!" an imperious voice demands from the shadows beneath the trees. "And be recog—oh, hell, it's just the Jaganshi."

"Hello to you too, Ikazuchi." A wry chuckle at Hiei's greeting is followed by a tall muscular form emerging into the light. Zephyr stares at a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to the wolf apparitions they had just left behind, with blonde brindle hair and eyes the same butter yellow as the middle Crescent-Blade brother, Takara.

The smile the man wears is wiped off his face at the sight of the form slumped against the human-girl's legs, daffodil eyes going blank in shock. "I'm...I'm seeing things. Hiei, what is that boy's name?"

"You should know damn well what his name is, King of Thieves, but since your memory seems as faulty as ever I'll refresh it. This is Obsidian Avalon. The fuda-wielder standing over him is the reincarnation of Ivory Avalon. Don't let your brain explode."

Zephyr squeaks as a thick finger is leveled at her, the butter-yellow eyes behind it grim and disbelieving. "You. We buried you a century ago." The youkai appears taken aback when she bridles back at him.

"Look, if you're going to start complaining about what the hell I look like or what happened before I was born, do it with someone who actually cares. I am confused, I am nervous, and you are dangerously close to getting a dose of my talismans." Zephyr bites off every word in cool anger, feeling that 'other' come to the fore once again to say what she would otherwise not have the courage to. "I don't know why you people insist on bringing up a death that no longer applies since I am here in the flesh right now."

The finger is dropped, a wry grin spreading over somewhat craggy features. "You're Ivory, all right. Girl had a tongue that could peel paint at forty yards and a temper to match when she wanted to." Another squeak, this one breathless as the youkai sweeps her into a rib-cracking hug. "Damn, but this is a time of come-backs! First Aislin-sama, then Yoko-sama, now the Avalon twins! Doesn't seem like anyone stays dead around here anymore!" Ikazuchi laughs when he glances over at Hiei with a sly smile. "Wanna lay bets on how long it's gonna be before Kuronue comes back?"

"He's already reincarnated in the body of a boy named Lucas Koumori, a mixed-blood of eighth bat, the rest ningen."

"And it's official, the dead just don't stay dead." With a huff of laughter Ikazuchi bends down to examine Obsidian, hand cradling the narrow chin while turning the sleeping renard's face this way and that. A quiet smile softens the lightning-wolf's entire body language into someone far less scary than Zephyr had first thought. "Looks like young 'Dian here's been put through the wringer more'n once, doesn't he?"

"Mm?" Heavy lashes flutter open. "'Zuchi?"

"Hey, you're awake. Welcome home, 'Dian." The fox beams sleepily as the Thief-King scoops him up in gentle arms before turning around. He looks back over his shoulder at the stone-faced kajihenge and the cinnamon-eyed fuda-user still where they stopped beyond the portal.

Rather, Hiei is still there. Zephyr is looking a bit rumpled and is a few feet from her original spot because of that enthusiastic hug. "Well? Come on, don't just stand there like a couple of statues. Gre'ich will have a good hot meal waiting and I'm sure everyone's going to want to get reacquainted with the twins."

Zephyr is following before she realizes it, Hiei having already flitted ahead once more. It's a short walk of only a few hundred yards before they step into a large clearing that funnels into a round cave-mouth. Several youkai—even a couple of humans, scarred but smiling—are scattered around the meadow doing various tasks; yet they drop whatever they're doing to snap to attention as their leader steps into view.

Then that formality is dropped at the sight of a familiar form cradled in the muscular arms with a half-familiar form trotting at his heels. "It's the Avalons!" rises in exultation from all throats, everyone rushing over to laugh, lightly slap shoulders, and exclaim over the changes wrought in their youngest members.

Suddenly the world is filled with cream-and-white fur, something heavy colliding with Zephyr's shoulders to tumble her onto her back in the thick grass. The scent of old blood and alfalfa fills her nose while something rough licks at her face, a grinding sound fills her ears. The weight is lifted with a laughing comment of, "Ease off, you great lump of fur! She's in a human body now so be gentle!"

Distance resolves the fur into a huge feline sitting happily a few feet away, with a tall man's fingers tangled in the long fur on the back of the neck, a striped/spotted tail swishing happily through the grass. Zephyr sits up while air rushes into her squashed lungs, staring into the wrapping-foil green eyes gazing back. Her hand reaches out, caresses one broad cheek; the grinding sound resumes, the huge cat's purr vibrating through the human girl's chest as loud as only a two-ton cat can be.

"I…remember you."

Laughter from those who hear the wondering murmur. "Of all the things in all the worlds, she just remembers Kizi!" the tall youkai laughs, slapping the beast on one muscled flank. An indignant 'whuff' of air accompanies an admonishing whack with the long tail. "Ouch!"

Oh, yes, Zephyr remembers this creature from her more pleasant Ivory-dreams. The feline—which looks much like a white tiger crossed with a snowleopard—is Kizi, the snow-hunter that Ivory's hero had brought back as a rowling cub for a pet. "You got really big, Kizi-chan."

A pleased rumble with a gentle head-butt to the girl's forehead, that remembered, familiar greeting. Hands lift Zephyr to her feet and pass her around for a dizzying series of hugs from the tight-knit group she can barely put names to.

She lets out a cry of dismay when the confusion sends her talismans sliding from her pocket, but no one really seems surprised that they're there. Instead, a number of the thieves help her scoop them up into an orderly pile again. Several just comment, "So you're still using those things, huh, Ivory-chan? Gotten better with them, I hope!"

"Hey," she protests at the friendly insult, "I'm pretty good with those, my mother says so!"

Ikazuchi winks at her before asking, "Who's your dam nowadays, kitling?"

"Kumiko Uotani." Silence, even from the youkai continuing to gather around them.

An aged, grizzled man bearing more scars than Zephyr can count limps up, his reddish-brindle eyebrows knitted together. "Say again, kit?"

"Kumiko Uotani is my mother and she taught me my magic."

A low whistle from the lightning-wolf still holding a zonked-out Obsidian. "Damn, girl, you never do anything by halves, do ya? Uotani's one of the bogey-men of the underworlds. Her skills with paper-magic are friggin' crazy—she taught you origami spells yet?"

"Just the crane messenger one. I specialize in the talismans."

"Just like you Avalons," chuckles a whip-cord-and-bone falcon youkai. "Even if you were to fall into a cesspit you'd _still_ come up head-to-toe in muck with gold in each hand." That breaks the aura of awed silence and reinstates the joyful ruckus; even Hiei is dragged off into the Lair for one of the biggest parties Makai has ever seen.

——

"So what's the big commotion, Koenma? You usually don't haul my ass in here at three am on my usual sleep-night unless it's something really insane. Let me guess; another Sensui? A pack of them? The world coming to an end?"

Koenma gives the white-haired woman standing so boredly in front of him an icy stare. "Hiei has disappeared from our trackers."

"Yeah, so? It's not like he hasn't before."

"You don't understand, Moors. He's disappeared from our_ Ningenkai_ trackers."

"Meaning what, he violated parole and went to Makai?"

"As Botan would say, 'bingo'."

Aislin snorts, crossing her arms over her chest as she rests her weight on one booted foot. "Okay, so what do you want _me_ to do about it? It's not like I'd be of much help finding the porcupine head; he's as bad as Kohaku when he doesn't want to be found. Not even using the Void would work unless he felt like talking to me." A gamine grin as a thought occurs to her. "You know, he could be off chasing Avalon. Hiei's honor code wouldn't allow him to break his sworn oath unless there's a damned good reason. Fulfilling another oath would be about right."

Those oversized mocha eyes narrow. "You're talking awfully calmly about Hiei hunting down one of your people, Moors."

"I'm pretty confident in my winsome kit's abilities, even half-dead and two-thirds starved like you've had him for the past century."

The binky nearly falls from nerveless lips before Koenma recovers. "We did _not_ starve the boy! And he was allowed enough youki to do some pretty impressive exercises even with the shackles."

All humor is wiped from Aislin's face at that. "You're an idiot, toddler. Do you even know how much youki a kitsune needs to survive? And I checked the records on him, I know how much food he got at every meal. Yes, you fed him regularly, but for Inari's sake, child-prince, he ate nearly five times that amount every meal back at the Lair! And not _once_ did you _ever_ give him fresh raw meat! Kits _need_ raw food to grow properly; they get nutrients from it that get destroyed when the food is cooked!" Her fists clench. "So don't tell me he wasn't half-dead or starved, Koenma, because I won't buy that crap for one damned second."

"But—"

"You didn't even let him _bathe_! I've seen pictures of him covered in grime and his hair looking like a rat's nest! You mistreated one of my people, someone who was damn near a son, and you dare try to deny it! Forget my help on this one, Koenma. Obsidian can give Hiei the runaround for all I care, my own parole terms or not." Whirling on her heel, the Winter Rose stalks out of the office with the fur trim on her clothing puffed out in contained anger.

"Brilliant, Koenma," the toddler-prince mutters disgustedly to himself, flopping back into his enormous chair. "One of these days you're going to push that woman too far and what happens next will be your own damn fault." A tired sigh. "I hate this job sometimes."

——

Aislin fumes all the way back to her room at Genkai's, not even noticing that she passes a startled Yukina on the way in until the koorime maiden politely clears her throat. Concern is clear in the eyes she shares with her brother Hiei when the pissed ex-thief turns. Knowing that snapping at Yukina is pointless and unnecessary, Aislin puts a stranglehold on her temper and takes a deep breath before asking with admirable calm, "Yes, Yukina-san?"

"Aislin-san, have you seen Obsidian-kun lately?" The koorime laces her fingers together in one of her nervous-habitual gestures. "Genkai-san said that he mentioned bringing Zephyr-chan to the kitchen for a late snack, but he never came. We've looked all over the compound; not even our new neighbors have seen him."

"New neighbors? Oh, the wolves." Aislin tugs at the end of her braid in one of her own habits. "No, Yukina-san, I haven't seen nor scented Obsidian since he took the wolf children hunting." She stiffens when she remembers a faint tingle of portal energy that had reached her not long before sundown from a tunnel she had thought she'd sealed. It had been one of the ones she'd shown the Avalon twins not long before they'd been captured or killed by Koenma's men.

"Aislin-san?" anxiously prods Yukina when her friend's eyes fill with realization and something brighter, her lips beginning to curve upwards.

"The utter brass of that kit. I'm going to swat him so hard his ears will be ringing for a week." A wry, self-admonishing smile warms her eyes as she looks over at Yukina. "He went portal-hopping even though he knew damn well he didn't have the strength for it. By now he's probably at the Lair passed out until Solstice. He probably took Zephyr with him, too, as well as Hiei."

"But wasn't Hiei-san supposed to stay in the Ningenkai?"

An affectionate pat on a kimono-clad shoulder as Aislin turns to walk back outside. "Yes, but since Hiei was supposed to be chasing my young pupil he's technically not breaking his terms of parole. I'm going to go see what that hare-brained fool thinks he's doing; let Kurama know if and when he comes looking for me, all right?"

The koorime smiles from relief. "All right, Aislin-san."

——

Zephyr curls up against the warm side of Kizi-chan in the wee hours of the next morning, wondering just how her life has managed to turn itself on its ear so quickly. And to think it all started with a cheerful smile given to her by a handsome new student with amethyst eyes. Part of her, that part she's coming to recognize as what is left of her last life's consciousness and memories, is quite comfortable and utterly relaxed in the surroundings of polished stone and fur-lined floors of the Lair.

While she, on the other hand, is starting to develop a mild case of claustrophobia. There's so many people in this cave system, well over three hundred if she didn't count too many people more than once or missed a large group—entirely possible given that some could be out on thieving missions. And while this place is huge, convoluted, and spacious, these people seem to prefer squishing themselves in as few caverns as possible at a time. They're as bad as a human city's downtown area on a holiday.

A sleepy mumble from the darkness off to her left softens the wary cinnamon eyes into a smile. Oh, well. Obsidian, while he may be stubborn, irritating, and confusing, has actually been worth all the trouble. She'd always wanted a brother for some reason, and though the black fox might be a demon and far older than she, his time locked away has kept him close to her own age mentality. He's really very sweet when he's not making her head spin, too.

And she can't dislike this place; the caves have been well-ventilated by several of the rock-shapers living among the thieves, public areas are kept as neat and clean as possible, and all of the youkai that knew her last life treat her as a member of their large, tightly-knit family. The corridors used regularly or even sometimes are brightly lit with 'faerie-lights' made of youki, the globes of soft energy she'd remembered from her dreams.

Besides, anyone who can party like this lot can't be all that bad. They'd had her dancing, singing, and laughing with them as though 'she' had never left, while several others—including the massive twelve-foot giant man who turned out to be the oft-spoken of Gre'ich—took Obsidian off somewhere for 'important matters of business'. Given the state he returned in, Zephyr suspects he was somehow woken, stuffed to the gills, and washed thoroughly.

Gre'ich amazes her. For all his size, the shadow-youkai looks more like a country lord with a shining plait of ebony hair dangling to his knees, dressed in a light cotton jacket and pants of Mandarin style. Zephyr has yet to see him wear shoes, and his grey eyes are always kind—except for when someone tried stealing a fingerful of icing off the cake he'd made for 'the return of his favorite bottomless pits'. Even then, the only punishment had been a light slap on the back of the offending hand and a superficial frown.

Someone who cooks like that man does is someone who definitely stays on Zephyr's list of VIP's to be friends with. She already learned several new recipes—and she found out that Gre'ich was the one who first taught her how to make her favorite sandwich.

Zephyr is knocked out of her reverie by the flap to the room she's sharing with Obsidian—their old room, as it turned out—being moved aside silently, the light from the hallway drifting in. Very light footsteps pad over the stone and are further muffled by the various fur rugs until they stop on the other side of Kizi. The big cat hasn't stirred, so it must be someone the snow-hunter knows and trusts.

A faint glow lights the darkness around her, Zephyr blinking up into the face of Aislin Moors, the student from Meiou who goes out with that Minamino prodigy, Shuichi. The turquoise eyes are expressionless but the coral-pink lips twitch at the corners.

"Now why, I wonder," comes the wry whisper of self-reprimand, "did I not really expect him to bring _you_?"

"What?" Zephyr sits up with a fur blanket wrapped around her shoulder as Aislin hops over Kizi with zero effort. "I don't understand. And what are _you_ doing here?"

A flash of white teeth in that pixie-like face precedes Aislin's answer while she sits herself down a couple of feet away from the human girl. "What am I doing here? Youngling, I _ruled_ here for almost five centuries. I should be asking you that question, except that I already know the answer."

She snickers softly when Zephyr's jaw drops, understanding dawning in those cinnamon eyes. "You're…you're a youkai, _too_?"

"Indeed. I am also the mentor of your past life and that stubborn kit over there." One petite hand waves in the direction of a lump of blankets, barely visible in the pale light of the energy-ball bobbing slightly above Aislin's head. "I understand that Obsidian brought back one of my statues while he was at it. It was quite a surprise to learn who stole it back, I might add."

"I had no say in the matter."

"I never said you did," is the amused reply. For some reason, this aspect of the white-haired woman's personality reminds Zephyr very strongly of the crimson-eyed male who had disappeared halfway through the party. "But I'd like to speak to the one who did."

The silver-haired teen says the most intelligent thing that pops up at that cryptic statement. "Huh?"

Her companion dissolves into silent laughter, hand clapped over her mouth while the slender shoulders shake. When she can breathe again, Aislin gasps/whispers, "You two really are alike, even now!" A cough and the merriment is squashed back into its metaphorical cupboard. "What I mean is, I have an ability that allows me to draw souls temporarily into a space that I create. I cannot use it for long on you; you are neither strong enough nor are you of the correct lineage to visit that space with impunity, but no lies may be spoken there. With the correct steps made, only the Truth, pure and unadulterated, can be spoken."

"It sounds like what my mother has told me about something called the Void."

Turquoise eyes blink in startlement. "Actually, that is indeed the place I was speaking of. Who, child, is your mother?"

"Kumiko Uotani."

"Ahhh. That explains much, then. Uotani-san is a woman of formidable abilities…or she was, before she dropped from sight almost twenty years ago. I have not personally met your mother but the stories I have heard do not sound exaggerated. Tell me, does she still practice fuda magic?"

Zephyr nods slowly, her mind spinning at the new revelations being dropped on her one after another. "Yes. She's the one who taught me my magic."

The jewel-like orbs take on an air of reverie, the long years they have seen shadowing their depths. "Uotani-san was renown through the Makai as a woman very much not to be trifled with because of those magics, practically unheard of in mortal-kin. Before or since, there has been no human to have attained the heights in paper-magic that she has climbed to. Verily, I am impressed."

"You're talking differently than you do at the inter-school events," Zephyr notes quietly from where she leans against Kizi. Aislin chuckles under her breath at that before she explains why.

"Youngling, I am over a thousand years old. Some speech patterns linger far beyond the lifespans of other things. The act I put on in the Ningenkai—and be sure, it _is_ an act—is one I have carefully crafted for the role. A regular teenage girl simply does not use the term 'verily' in normal conversation. Nor do they often know the perfect formality their culture has created in a language."

The ice-fox sighs when her guest only looks down at her feet with a mask-like expression. One pale hand reaches beneath that delicate chin and tilts it up. "Zephyr Uotani, do not feel embarrassed or dismayed at the way times change. I have long accepted that the things I once knew as a common fact have become legends, myths, or have been forgotten entirely. As one so long-lived as I, one must, or fall into despair. Nor think you foolish for having not seen the play for what it is sooner. I fool a great many people on a regular basis, whether they be ungifted or powerful psychics."

"I was just thinking," the girl says in whisper as her chin is released, "that your lives must get very lonely."

The brilliant smile Zephyr is suddenly favored with is dazzling in the pure joy it reveals. "Oh, kit, so perceptive for one so young? Yes, our lives can become lonely or dull but only if we allow it! Trust me, there have been very few times in my life where I have been bored or truly lonely. Anyone who lives the life of a thief can tell you the same." Settling back onto the furs, Aislin studies the surprised girl for a moment. "So, young Zephyr, will you allow me speech with your other self? She and I have some catching up to do, and there are questions that need asking."

"It's not going to hurt, is it?"

Laughter. "No, it's not! It will simply be as though you walk in a very realistic dream, and only for a few minutes."

A deep breath before Zephyr gives the woman before her a firm nod. "Okay, then."

—

_Ebony blackness spangled with thousands of soft-glowing stars, two forms standing as though upon a floor made of glass. Scarves of platinum dust drift around the smaller of the two, the taller glowing as softly as the full moon._

_"Welcome to the Void, Ivory Zephyr Avalon." Around them, the nuances of the name swirls; apples, mint, the musk of clean feathers, the jingling of bells and the milky scent of youth. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"_

_"Hello, Boss-sama!" chirps the reed-slender kitsune as she beams at her teacher. "It really has been a long time! Did my plan work? I can't remember."_

_"What plan, youngling?"_

_Pride colors the broad smile. "My plan to get everyone's attention! You know, when I swiped that pretty of yours the other night! I'll bet I surprised everyone!"_

_Understanding lightens the eyes colored like the heart of an iceberg. "Ah, that plan. Yes, I'd have to say that worked quite well. You nearly had Yoko ripping things apart, you upset Obsidian, and you have certainly been making no few of Koenma's nights sleepless." The scent of paper, ink, and baby powder added to by the indefinable scent of responsibility. _

_The smile vanishes when the implications sink in. "Oh. I guess I did something I wasn't supposed to, huh?"_

_"That, Ivory, is an understatement. What Game are you playing? What are the rules, the finish?"_

_Dismay. "I'm not playing a Game, Boss-sama! I'm just trying to fix things! We're the same soul, but it's like a split personality or something. I don't understand it. But I've been listening, and I've been picking things up, and I think what's going on is something like what happened to Yoko-sama. It's just that it's taken me this long to wake up; like there was a lock that dissolved when this body turned seventeen." A child's perspective on the name of the silver fox; the peppery scent/color of _chuka _berries, gentle winds, the scent of forests, confidence, and warmth._

_"So what happens now, youngling? You have everyone chasing their tails except Obsidian." Fire, strength, birdsong and the scent of pine with the sparkling of diamonds. _

_"I'm not sure. But I'll have it worked out by the Solstice."_

_"I hope so, kitling. For all our sakes."_

——

"Good morning, Yukina-san. Perchance, is Aisuhana here?"

"No, Kurama-san. She left last night for the Makai to look for Hiei-san and Obsidian-kun and wished for me to pass along that message."

The human-bodied fox's emerald eyes dim in concern. Obsidian shouldn't even have had the energy to _walk_ to the nearest portal in the middle of the Forest, let alone open the thing without killing himself. How did he manage it? Hiei would not have helped because that would go against his honor code.

"Kurama-san?"

Startlement. "Oh, hai, Yukina-san?"

A knowing smile makes the familiar crimson eyes glow. "Say hello to everyone for me when you see them."

Kurama turns with a soft chuckle, looking back over his shoulder with a mock-frown. "You're letting your intelligence show again, Yukina-san," he chides her as he walks off. "One of these days you're going to let slip that you know exactly who your brother is."

Yukina just gives him a mischievous little smile as she goes back to watering her garden. "He has his reasons, Kurama-san. The fact that I can see him is enough. Have a pleasant trip."

"And you a pleasant day, Yukina-san."

————————————————————————————————————

Heh. Whoever first thought that just because she acts sweet means Yukina's a ditz, obviously hasn't thought everything through. She lived in Demon World, in one of the harshest areas in that world. And she would have gotten jumped the second she set foot off the Island of Koorime. That, and she's just more interesting this way!

Here's this chapter's and last chapter's definitions. Forgot last time, bad fox-girl.

Shishou: Master/teacher

Sensei: Teacher (can also be applied to professions like doctors, etc)

Blood-Thorns: A cousin to the plant Kurama used on Karasu (DEATH! HORRIBLE, PAINFUL DEATH!) in the Dark Tournament. Only without the pretty flowers, just lots of hollow-thorned briar canes.

Demonsbane: the one plant that is guaranteed deadly to anyone with even the slightest bit of youkai blood in them. As demonstrated in Spring's Fire, a hanyou (half-youkai) will take about twenty minutes to die from nine drops of the distilled poison. A full-blood takes ten. There is an antidote that combines Angelwing juice, powdered Sunleaf, and several other extracts.

Angelwing: Just so you know what it is. A small, white-leafed plant that has tiny silver flowers the general size and shape of star-jasmine flowers. Known for purification and healing properties, rumored to have been sprouted from an angel's ruined feathers.

Sunleaf: ditto. A vine that resembles ornamental ivy in appearance, but prefers full sunlight and dry soil. The leaves turn shades of real gold (not just yellow like regular leaves) a week into summer. Known for potency-enhancing properties.

Suishō: Crystal

Inazuma: Lightning

Nadeshiko: the flower 'pink'

Kazeuta: wingsong

Takumi: artisan

Takara: treasure

Suzume: sparrow

Senpai: elder

Koumori: Bat

Kizi: short for kizuishou, or citrine

Chuka: a plant with fruit like blueberries, but flavored and colored like cinnamon/paprika


	9. Chapter 8: Triumphant Returns

Damn, spoke too soon about the server. Che, maybe I'll get it to work right ONE of these fricken days. -,.,-x

**Arano Honou:** A one-shot for Atsuko? Now I'm curious. But Yukina's a pretty good actor, ne? And Goki _was_ an idiot and deserved what he got. Good luck on 'Hunted'—and no story hates their author, some just like being more stubborn than others. As for acting 'young', hell, I know a couple of older teens that really are immature little pricks. Glad I'm not that age anymore, although people keep telling me I never really act young. Meh, go fig.

**Chirishman:** Ah, but please note the spelling. I used 'senpai', not 'sempai'. The two words really are quite different. Okazaki-sensei has explained that in class, and she should know, since she's a native Japanese. She's really cool, too!

**KuramaIsFine:** He had more tails to start out with, but that's what happens when you're stuck in Reikai prison for almost a century. So he's been busted back to the rank of one-tail, but it won't stay that way for long. Jessica Simpson? I vote eaten, just because.

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** Hiei's still not that much of a party animal. Knowing him, he took up a perch outside or some quiet corner and just watched the thieves slosh around. Kohaku will be brought back in soon, but not today.

Kohaku: Aww…

As for the reason Yoko went slightly berserk (or at least quietly psychotic) is because it was a very large shock to find Ivory robbing from a Ningenkai art museum. So far, the Silver Thief had been the only one known to pull off a successful and complete soul-transfer, and by the accounts of Koenma's records, Ivory had done no such thing. Circumstances are such that it should have been impossible for the true Ivory to have made a reappearance after her death, and the shock of finding that impossibility disproved unbalanced him. You'll find out the other reason why in a few chapters, so remember, kay? Now the reason for _Koenma_ to be so anxious to have Obsidian recaptured is a vital plot point that I'm not telling. Nyah. 'n,.,n'

**Silverwing013: **Koenma has a pretty _good_ idea of where Obsidian went. His only problem is that despite all the agents he's got hunting for the place, he has yet to find the Lair. Makes things a bit difficult for the child-prince and more fun for me!

Starling: Stick Kuwabaka in Makai? I wouldn't wish that kind of death on anyone but politicians and bad lawyers. Maybe annoying people like 'beautiful' Suzuka (gag).

**Kitsune Kit:** Ivory: Not on purpose, yanno. It's really hard to do something when you've only got half the buttons for body-control. And I'm not a great thief—not yet, anyway. I _was_ only about twenty when I died. That's like six or seven in human years. —Kurama and Hiei hide while Aislin goes on a sugar-high—

**Magus784:** Hiei and Aislin: A little far? More like not far enough.

Niana: It's weird when you two do that in tandem. Like some spooky stereo thing.

Hiei: Hn. My reasons are my own, and short of killing the toddler, nothing is too far. —considers implications of last statement— Then again…

Kohako: Remember, he helped me paint Koenma's bedroom pink?

**Asilin Kheldarson:** Ivory: I'm more aware than you are, brother?

Obsidian: Dunno about that. You spaced out way more than I did in between lessons.

—————————————————————————————————

Zephyr rouses to the sounds of cheering echoing faintly through the ground that her head rests on, wondering at the odd vision brought on by the trance Aislin had dropped her into. It had been as though she'd stood among the stars…

"Wha's all th' yellin' fer?" mumbles a drowsy voice from her left that snaps her out of her daydream. The silver-haired girl looks over to find a yawning Obsidian sitting up in his bed, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Ohayou, Obsidian. I have no idea what all the shouting is for but do you want to find out?"

"Well, duh." A wicked if somewhat sleepy smile is flashed at her from within a tanned face. "Wake Kizi up, I c'n ride 'er."

Zephyr does exactly that by the simple expedient of gently poking the giant feline's side until the cat _whuffs_ and turns a reproachful gaze upon her masters. But when Kizi understands that Obsidian wishes a ride, the striped feline is quite happy to oblige, kneeling beside the unsteady black fox to allow him easy access to her back.

Even astride Kizi as Obsidian is, his head is still even with Zephyr's when the human girl walks beside the pair to keep the kitsune in place while they traverse the dizzying corridors. When they arrive in the main cavern the pair finds most of the gang already gathered there around a young man with long crimson hair lightly spiked at bangs and the nape of his neck.

Emerald eyes spot them upon entrance, the red-head conversing briefly with those around him before he starts walking towards the young pair. The crowd parts into an easy path for him, revealing that Aislin walks beside him with her hand resting in the crook of the male's arm.

Zephyr looks to the ebony-maned boy beside her when he chuckles weakly, both hands employed keeping him upright and steady. "Ano, ohayou, Boss-sama. I don't like that smile of yours."

Instantly 'that smile', which had carried overtones of displeasure and annoyance, dissolves into a cheerier expression; the regal head is inclined slightly towards them. "Blunt as always, Obsidian. And just as foolish as you were a hundred years ago. Where did your sense run off to, bringing a human girl to the Demon World when you have barely the strength to walk?"

"Like I told Aislin-sama last night, I don't know the reason, I just knew I had to before Solstice. But I'm still glad you're here. Now it's like the old days, only you and Ivory-chan look different."

A gentle hip-bump from Aislin to her companion—it is with a start that Zephyr recognizes him as Shuichi Minamino-Hatakana, the prodigy from Meiou High School—accompanies an admonishing smile. "The former can be changed, youngling. Show us your silver side, beloved, it's been too long since I've seen it."

Shuichi steps away with a courtly bow to Aislin, one hand resting over his heart. "As my lady wishes." And he is enveloped in a cloud of rose-scented mist. When is clears, Zephyr tilts her head back as her mouth falls open.

Straightening from the bow is a seven-foot tall man with luxurious silver hair cascading down to his hips where it blends with a silken tail made from the same living silk. His fanged smile is very white in a tanned face, set off by rich amber eyes while fox ears of a darker silver than his hair swivel playfully about.

The smile turns to dumfounded surprise when a soft, clear voice says wonderingly, "You're Yoko."

_Everyone_ twists around to blink at Zephyr, eyes locked on the transformed male several feet in front of her. Regaining his composure, Yoko grins and once again inclines his head in a brief approximation of a bow. "Indeed, Ivory Zephyr Avalon-Uotani, I am." That utterly enigmatic smile gets a little bigger. "You know, should you take up the career of thief again, 'Ivory Zephyr' could very well be your new thief-name."

"I have no intention of becoming a thief as things stand now, whether my previous life intercedes or not. Zephyr Uotani does _not_ steal."

"I stand rebuked."

"As do you, Obsidian," Aislin adds sternly from beside her life-mate, her expression just as firm as her voice. "So far luck has been with you in your current Game, but 'ware; Fate has a habit of changing the rules to suit her own plans."

"Yes'm."

Ikazuchi just sighs in his usual theatrical fashion and slings his arms around his retired commanders with his brindle-blonde ears tilting crazily. "So serious! You'd think people were dying instead of just worn out! Come on, Aislin-sama, Yoko-sama, have a little fun! With the exception of Kuro-kun, wherever the hell his reincarnation is, the whole gang from the old days is back together!"

"What," Aislin turns amazed eyes to the thunder-wolf, "there haven't been any deaths recently? Truly?"

"Truly!" several thieves chorus happily. "Nary a one!"

Gambit, the older youkai with all of the scars and rust-colored hair, nods solemnly from where he leans against the cavern wall by the outer exit. "Some close calls, a few body-parts lost, but nothin' too life threatenin'," he confirms. "The cub here," a jerk of his whiskered chin at a grinning Ikazuchi, "ain't a half-bad leader."

Obsidian relaxes beside Zephyr when his teachers' faces shift from stern to amazed joy, their hair fluffing up in pleasure around their faces and shoulders. It reminds Zephyr of the birds she's studied in parks and on the streets; whenever those creatures were relaxed or happy, their feathers would fluff much the same way. It's a cute trait, actually.

"I think we're safe for the moment," the black fox mutters to his companion in a low voice while the others converse around them. "They don't look like they're about ready to spit nails anymore."

"I don't call being stuck in the middle of a bunch of party animals safe," retorts Zephyr in a voice just as low as his. "I'd rather be outside, where it's quieter."

"Okay." Startled by the nonchalant answer, the girl with silver hair trails after the ebony-maned boy riding the huge cat through the chattering, laughing crowd, through the outer tunnel, and into the front clearing flooded with sunlight.

Taking the time to actually look around, Zephyr gazes upward at the unusual sky. "Is this world's sky always such a red color?"

"Huh?" Obsidian cranes his head back and nearly falls off Kizi-chan—he saves himself by grabbing two handfuls of flowing mane, much to Kizi's discomfort. "Oh. Yeah, pretty much. There's a legend that says the ancestor to King Enma Yama-Daioh fought with a huge, really powerful demon when the worlds were forming, and the demon's blood stained the sky that color, making the Makai the home for all youkai."

The trio has wandered into the boundary forest now, Zephyr drinking in the sights of trees so big that it would take a dozen of her to wrap arms around it, ferns that sing as they drink up moisture from streak-banks, and myriads of small creatures that she's never seen before. Obsidian plays the tour-guide, pointing out landmarks or some of the creatures and telling her what they are.

"See that big rock over there?" He points to a boulder the size of a station wagon half-submerged in water and covered in moss. "That's the Emerald Throne; it's where the territory's fair-folk gather on full moons. I hope you stay long enough to attend one of their meetings, Zephyr-chan. It's a beautiful thing to see. Oh! And there goes a meremia!" A catlike creature with wings glides over their heads through the canopy. "Those are really rare! You only get to see them around the Lair 'cause they get hunted almost everywhere else!"

"How come?"

"They're really smart quasi-youkai. They can talk and do some tricks with youki. I think some of them caused the stories about will'o'wisps 'cause that's one of the tricks. They can make themselves look like little globes of light just like what we have back in the Lair and a group of them is called a wing. A lot of people like to try and make them into pets or they eat the meremia to get their tricks, but we don't do that here."

"Ivory!" a small voice peeps in excitement, a small, lithe body tumbling from the lowest branch of a tree onto her head. A silky, fluffy tail waves past her nose as well as a coppery wingtip—at a guess, a meremia just landed on top of her. "Ivory! You're back!" Judging by the feel of movement the small creature sits up, letting out a warbling, cheery call. Instantly, more than a half-dozen of the winged beings converge on her, chittering gaily at the tops of their diminutive lungs.

"Where have you been, Ivy-ivy?"

"We missed you!"

"It's been sooo boring without you to talk to!"

"Were you off doing thief-stuff?"

"Or fox-stuff?"

"Come on, Ivy-ivy, tell us!"

"Yeah, tell us!"

"Pretty please!"

"'Cause you love us and we're so cute that you can't resist us!"

"I'm the cutest!"

"No way, I am!"

"No, me!"

"You' re all wrong, _I'm_ the cutest! Tell 'em, Ivy-ivy!"

Obsidian is torn between laughing and staring at the odd sight his reincarnated sister makes, with cat-like animals hanging from her head, her shoulders, and her arms, each voice overriding the others in an effort to be heard. They sound like nothing but young children pestering a favorite relative after a long absence. In the end, he decides that laughing would be appropriate and nearly falls off Kizi again.

"It's not that funny, Haru," Zephyr growls at him, face nearly lost behind fluttery, furry wings, long ears, and long tails.

"Yes, yes it is!"

"'Dian!" several more meremia chorus, dropping on him from nowhere and following much the same conversational pattern. Questions, demands for answers, a verbal battle over who's the cutest. It's Zephyr's turn to smirk while she tries to calm down her wing and answer at least some of their questions. Wisely, though, she avoids the matter of who is cutest.

"Hn. You two look like statues in a park. You've even got the pigeons." All of the meremia take flight at the amused, almost-mocking comment from behind the young foxes. Kizi just flicks her tail as Hiei walks up with his usual half-smirk firmly in place beneath hooded crimson eyes.

"Ohayou, Jaganshi-san."

"Good morning, Jaganshi-san," Zephyr echoes uneasily. The sheer _presence_ this dark male forces onto her awareness is mind-numbing if she's not careful to block as much as she can out, though so far he has offered her no violence at all. It's the subtle aura that hangs around him, _promising_ violence sooner or later, that makes her untrusting of him.

"Hello, kitsune. What are you doing so far from the Lair?" Obsidian twists around to look back the way they had come with startled golden eyes.

"Oops! That's a good bit farther than I meant to—ow!" He tumbles off of Kizi's broad back when something whizzes past the trio, his hands clapped to his side. In a flash Hiei is on the defensive, his katana out and gleaming in the ruddy sunlight. Zephyr has dropped into a crouch, ears having followed the path of the object to find what looks like a dart sunk into a tree behind them. "Bloody slime-crawling sheep-loving hemlock-sucking prick!"

"Taught you her language, for sure," a male voice drawls. "Though the plant comment's new." The human girl watches with wide eyes as a man seems to melt from the shadows of a trunk several yards ahead of them, his arms crossed and kunai sprouting from between his fingers.

Hiei growls under his breath at the intruder. "Shao. What's a flunky like you doing here, as if I couldn't guess?"

"Capturing Avalon, like _you _were unable to do, Jaganshi," the male replies comfortably. "Not to mention I was supposed to see if you were up to your old tricks again, which it looks like you are."

"Moron." The breathy epithet is spoken by Obsidian, his hands still pressed against his side while a thin trickle of blood flows between his graceful fingers. His mouth twists up into a pained smile. "Think Jaganshi-san came here 'cause he wanted to? He was chasin' me. And damned near caught me, too, before you interrupted."

One ebony eyebrow rises towards spiky bangs at the effort made by the fox to keep Hiei's own reputation intact even with whatever concoction was undoubtedly on that dart burning in the boy's bloodstream. "You are a fool, kitsune."

"Knew that already," is the faint laugh. Zephyr has one hand hovering near her hip, ready to reach for a talisman, but a higher power than she intervenes. The tall man's face goes slack without warning, a barely-perceptible aura of blue-green light flickering at his body's outline. The black-clad arms drop to his sides, the kunai dropping with dull thuds to the mossy ground.

"Then you should be taking steps to correct it instead of making things worse," a female's voice informs him tartly as Aislin walks into view, a sapphire Jagan open and blazing on her forehead. There is a faint shimmer of violet light beneath Hiei's white bandanna, his own Jagan calling to a sibling with its power. "Feh. Worthless boot-licker coming into my territory without permission and thinking he goes unnoticed. All of you lackeys are the same, I swear."

"I had the situation in hand, snowflake."

"Not fast enough to suit me, porcupine head. Koshou, be so kind as to aid my young pupil over there, would you?" The command is phrased as a light-hearted request, but that it is still an order is perfectly clear. From behind the koorime woman comes a mouse apparition garbed in green velvet robes strung with bandoleers and a broad leather belt.

The slender female easily wrenches the dart out of the tree, the tip of her tongue delicately touching the dark metal. "Monkshood, mixed with Red-cap mushroom spoors. Designed to incapacitate, not kill. The antidote is simple enough." Walking over to Obsidian, the petite youkai quickly has a draught of bright blue liquid steaming faintly within a small stone bowl, and it is without mercy that every drop is poured down the young fox's throat.

Zephyr hides a smile behind her hand while Obsidian splutters at the horrid taste flooding his mouth, that flavor distracting him while Koshou cleans the shallow slash with a darker, brown fluid before taping a bandage over it.

Obsidian tended to, all attention is laid upon the foolish human who has wandered far out of his safe-zone. Aislin is the one who does the talking, her Jagan glaring coldly at this worthless scrap of existence. "All right, Shao, you wanted to go fox hunting? Then go to England and take up the mortal sport. That is where you went after you left Spirit World, because you received information that the ragged Avalon could be hiding there in disguise. You did not come to Demon World, you did not stumble upon the Lair of Thieves, you did not see a human girl consorting with demons. What did I just say, Shao?"

"I went to England because I received information that the ragged Avalon could be hiding there in disguise."

"And did you find anything?" A stronger blaze of icy light from the sapphire Jagan.

"I found nothing."

"And where did you not go?"

Puzzlement crosses the slack face. "I didn't go anywhere except to England."

"Very good. Say bye-bye, Shao."

"Bye-bye." And with a sharp snap of Aislin's fingers, the man disappears in a cloud of platinum powder that vanishes before it hits the ground. The koorime woman dusts off her hands with a satisfied, tight smile while the Jagan on her head closes and seals, leaving behind a single mark. It is her demon-sigil, a teardrop the color of diamond dust mixed with peacock blue.

"That takes care of that little problem. Now, winsome kit, you still have the rest of the day and a night before the solstice, and you are in no shape to be giving guided tours whether or not you walk them. Kindly get your ass back to the Lair before another one of the toddler's flunkies finds you."

"Yes'm!" Obsidian barks before he gets hauled to his feet by a miffed fire apparition and propped back onto Kizi's back.

"Hn. Next time, snowflake, let _me_ deal with the rabble."

The smile turns to a mocking, chiding frown. "Ah, but porcupine head, why should I let _you_ have all the fun?"

——

_She trots through endless tunnels with feet that know the way better than her eyes, with a feeling of being called growing stronger and stronger as she goes. Lights color the air in soft pastels but do little to alleviate the darkness pooled on the ground. But given the texture beneath her bare feet it is worked stone, sanded smooth but not slick. _

_"Come on, slowpoke! We don't have all night!" echoes a voice around her, making her legs move faster. _

_"It would help if I knew where I was going!"_

_"Your feet know the way, silly! Let the rest be a surprise!" She's running now, impatient to reach the end if only to swat the illogical voice. The lights pass faster, quick flashes of color that fade rapidly behind her. Then the darkness is gone, swallowed by the brilliance that floods her eyes and makes her arms rise in a futile attempt to shield them._

_"It's about time. The sun is close to rising." Startled, she blinks over her sleeve at the person standing in the middle of a perfect half-spherical room. The lithe body is clad in a mint-green kimono wrapped with a violet obi, setting off the long silver hair, the paler furry ears, and the almost-white tail swishing behind the long legs. The eyes, set beneath gracefully arched eyebrows, are the color of pigeon-blood rubies. "Hello, self."_

_Zephyr steps gingerly into the room, finding that she, too, is clad in a kimono. But hers is a lilac color with an emerald green sash, both kimonos splashed with light pink cherry blossoms. "Are you Ivory?"_

_"Dead in the black! You're Ivory, too, you know. It's just that something went wrong when we were placed in our body. We're kind of like split personalities, what Yoko-sama pretends to have with the Spirit Detective and that carrot-top."_

_"So why am I here?"_

_A cheery grin. "Because we're going to try and fix it! We're not supposed to _be_ separate, we're supposed to be one whole soul and notsplit into a couple of pieces."_

_The two are standing only a foot or two apart now, a wind springing from nowhere and transforming the stone chamber into a grassy meadow beneath a starlit sky dotted with a silvery cloud or two. The moonlight hits their hair and turns the tresses into banners of gleaming star-silk. _

_Zephyr tilts her head to one side, feeling her unbound locks slide over her shoulder as her hands raise of their own accord. "So what now, then? How do we repair things?"_

_One milk-pale hand stretches out in an unmistakable gesture as pink lips curve into a knowing smile. "Take my hand, and we'll go from there."_

——

When Aislin passes the room where her young pupils sleep in the dreams of the young, her attention is caught by a faint misty light curling beneath the door-curtain, shading a deep rose-pink tinted with lavender. It is an energy she hasn't seen for a hundred years. Walking past and watching the wind of her passage stir the mist into fantastic abstract shapes, the Queen of Thieves murmurs four simple words; "Welcome back, misted Avalon."

——

Obsidian wakes just before sunrise, already feeling his strength returning, eager to reach the entrance before the sun touches the rocks. Excited as a human child at Christmas, he reaches over to the lump just a few feet away and shakes it, eagerly whispering, "Come on, sister! It's almost Solstice!"

"Oh, go dunk your head, brother." Obsidian freezes at the familiar words, then pulls back the fur blankets hiding Zephyr from his view. Then gapes. For there on the futon lies curled a wondrous sight. Hair the color of white gold spills around a lithe body clad in a pair of jeans and a violet tank-top, with four silken tails draped over one sprawled leg. Furry ears droop against the silvery head in drowsy relaxation.

"_Ivory_!"

"Mh? Whaaat?" A hand gropes blindly for the stolen blankets, only to be grabbed and used as a lever to haul her along with Obsidian to their feet. "'Dian, I wanna sleep. Go 'way."

"Ivory! Ivory, wake up right now! I mean it!"

"Fine," comes the growl, ridiculously long lashes parting to reveal a cinnamon eye with an elliptical pupil dilated in the darkness. "I'm awake. Happy now?"

"That _is_ you, isn't it?"

The hand is freed and stretches towards the ceiling with her other hand, several pops signaling the realignment of her spine. "Yes, it's me. Zephyr and Ivory both. I'm back to what I'm supposed to be and it wasn't as easy as Ivory thought so I'm very tired. If you keep bugging me, I'm going to bite you."

A jubilant smile accompanies a startled squeak and a cranky growl from Kizi as two foxes abruptly land on her back, but the giant cat obediently rises and lopes into the hallway. Several other youkai are trotting through the passages in the direction of the entrance in order to welcome the Solstice.

No one pays too much attention to the twins as they ride Kizi out into the clearing, leaving the feline to sprawl on her favorite boulder as they scramble up the cave-side to the top of the small mountain that houses the Lair. Only a few other youkai have gathered up there; the rest remain down in the clearing, facing east as the first rays of the orange sun spill over the horizon.

Everyone claps their hands twice as one before flinging their arms wide in welcome of the light, staggering when the beams and a flood of energy slams into them. A sweet chorus of glad cries pour into the air as reserves are replenished and grown, manes lengthening, eyes glowing, fur fluffing, feathers and scales glossing to a near-mirror shine. The platinum tumble of Ivory's hair that had brushed her hips fluffs itself until it reaches her mid-thighs, where it twines around itself like a living thing.

She turns laughing eyes to her brother to find him crowing gleefully while he soaks up the light and strength, his own cropped mane of ebony now swinging to his hips over a set of five glorious tails, one of which is tipped with snow white fur. He flexes one hand before his face before flashing a wicked smile at his restored sister, letting the muscles of his arms roll under tanned skin while he stands there in an open vest and loose white trews.

"The Avalons cry a welcome!" he howls to the crowd below, faces turning up and grinning in jubilant surprise to find the kits standing there in full glory.

"The Thieves cry a welcome!" is the roar back, as Obsidian snatches up Ivory's hand and they leap down to the ground far below with a couple of mid-air somersaults. Everyone is laughing, bursting with energy thanks to the Solstice, a good half of the gathered crowd disappearing among the trees to repair damage done to it in the months since Spring Solstice as a way to vent the over-flowing power coursing through their bodies.

Others bring out crystals and gemstones, storing that power as a failsafe in case it will be needed later. The whole clearing and beyond is filled with colored lights as auras manifest around the pulsing stones held by so many, the youki-signatures clear to anyone with a better-than-human sense of smell. Obsidian casts his awareness out around him, seeking two very specific energies buried in the jumble of blending auras from numerous youkai.

A smile blooms again on his face as one of those signatures approaches, returning to himself to find a beaming Yoko walking towards them with rose vines tangled in his long silver mane bearing deep scarlet blooms. "Welcome back, Obsidian, Ivory. It's good to see you so restored."

"Good morning!" both chirp back. Obsidian adds, "Where's Aislin-sama?"

A distant expression takes hold of the kitsune a moment before the grin returns. "She's down in her Crystal Chamber, recharging all of her stones like she does every year. We'll be seeing her after she's finished, I'm sure." He ruffles their hair affectionately. "I doubt anyone will recognize my young shadow anymore, nor the winsome kit now that he doesn't look like something the cat dragged in. Go on, enjoy the Solstice. I hear there's a festival going on in Pridesholt; you're strong enough now by just living to keep yourselves out of deep trouble if you go. Besides," a conspiratorial wink, "I may convince Aisuhana to go there with me, as well! Ikazuchi and several others have already gone, so no fear of another ambush." And the tall fox strides off, mingling with the other thieves who are nearly drunk on energy as they sing the songs the plants sing.

Obsidian looks over at Ivory with a lifted eyebrow in query. She rolls her eyes and gives him a 'duh' look, grabbing his hand and pulling them back into the Lair to change into suitable clothes. "Come on, brother! The last festival I went to was a disaster! Let's erase that memory with one of pleasure, ne?"

"Okay!"

——

"Slow down, you two!" Ikazuchi calls as two young foxes barely old enough to be out from their mother's shadow dart past him, giggling happily as they play with a pair of white fox masks and weave through the crowd. "You'll run into someone!"

"Haii!" they call back in high spirits, before grinning at each other and bursting into laughter. The lightning-wolf just rolls his butter-yellow eyes and continues chatting amiably with one of the local mercenary-police that keeps justice in the town of Pridesholt. The Captain of the Mercenary Guild is a brown tabby-cat youkai named Mizu, and the man also happens to be an old friend of Aislin's, from when he was a broken-down soldier looking for work.

In return for the kindness she'd shown him, he has made it abundantly clear that as long as they keep their light-finger habits to themselves, no one of the Thieves will be arrested here, no matter what the bounty. It makes life a great deal simpler to have another bolt-hole besides the Lair where one can seek sanctuary.

Many of the older youkai smile indulgently at the young kitsune out for a day of fun, the solstice lightening everyone's mood. On a day as beautiful as this, it is impossible to be gloomy. As the pair approaches the gold-fish booth, Ivory looks over at her brother with a thoughtful expression. "I forgot to ask, 'Dian; what ever happened to the fish we got that day?"

A brief flash of sadness at the reminder of her death before Obsidian sighs. "They let me keep the fish in my cell, but they were mortal and only lasted for about a decade."

"From a human perspective, that's a long time for a goldfish." Pause. "A _really_ long time." Another pause. "Come to think of it, that's a really, _really_ long time for a goldfish."

Obsidian chokes down a bark of laughter and his face turns red with the effort while Ivory pays the booth-owner with a copper coin from the stash that had still been in their room from a hundred years ago. _Whoever said there's no honor among thieves obviously never met this bunch,_ the silvery vixen thinks to herself in wry humor. _Else I'd have never seen half the stuff again if and when I came back unless they were being worn by whoever took them._ Obsidian is still coughing from swallowing his laugh when his sister is handed a paddle and a clay bowl.

"Mind your fingers, lassie," the man warns cheerfully. "They ain't been fed yet an' they likes a bit o' fresh meat now an' agin."

A slow blink at the fish swimming lazily just below the surface. "Are they piranha or demon fish or something?"

"A long-cousin o' demon-kin," the roguish man agrees with no less cheer, gesturing at what appears to be a tankful of normal gold-fish coming in a rainbow of colors. "Ain't got much more brains'n a ningen dog, but they's got a good bite to 'em. If'n ye still wanta fish, no plant-tricks, lassie."

"Ooooh," both young foxes breathe in appreciation. Obsidian watches over Ivory's shoulder as she pushes up the sleeves of her forget-me-not blue kimono and dips a bowlful of water from the tank, careful to keep her fingers out of the liquid and fish out of the bowl. Switching the bowl to her other hand, she readies the paddle, and waits.

Splash! Flick! Plop! Ecstatic smiles blooms on both youthful faces at the sight of a pearly double-fin marked with a ruby patch around the dorsal fin sulking in the clay vessel, thwarted in its attempt to nip a bit of flesh from the lovely hand that had been just an inch or two away. "You got a nice one, Ivory-chan! It's gorgeous!"

"Not bad, lassie. Try yer luck again, eh?" The girl accepts the new bowl while the stall-owner takes the first and pours both fish and water into a small glass globe, the bottom flattened for purchase and balance; cinnamon eyes turn up to the dark male behind her.

"'Dian, which one to you want?"

The renard takes the same time to answer as he would as though someone had asked him whether he wanted riches or the best foods in the world as his last request, studying each fish carefully before deciding. "Try for that one, sister? The red one with the gold marking?" Said fish immediately sinks, wishing no part in this stupid game, while the paddle flashes in, dipping out the fish that had been pointed out with a merry glance. It lands in the bowl with a splash, a splendid creature of calico marking, white beneath patches of red and gold. "Hey, that worked! Fantastic!"

"A century of no practice hasn't dulled my senses or reflexes _that_ badly," protests Ivory as the second fish is added to the bowl, her hands taking the fragile bubble while her eyes watch the resigned creatures within. "Sir, besides meat, what do these pretties eat? And what kind of environment do they live best in?"

"Now, lassie, they likes red meat or bugs when they can catch 'em," the brown-haired man tells her seriously, pleased that someone actually bothers asking him intelligent questions instead of just skipping off willy-nilly. "And the bes' place for 'em's in a good big tank, lotsa light, wi' a bit o' water-plant growin' surface-side. Once they figure out yer the place they get their food from, they might warm up a bit, but don' hold yer breath."

"Got it. Thank you!"

"Thanks fer bein' smart about those liddle tykes! Enjoy the Solstice!" The man waves a merry farewell at them, flashing the pearly webbing stretched between his fingers, then turns his attention to a new customer in time to keep them from getting bitten.

"Where to next, sister?" Obsidian asks absently as they walk away, the renard nibbling at the berry crepe he'd been savoring for the past five minutes.

Ivory looks around curiously to find their next activity…then freezes at the sight of a very familiar midnight-blue tent pitched at the end of the lane they're walking. "To visit a piece of our past, methinks."

—————————————————————————————————

Dun-dun-dun! (hides from reviewers while enjoying her cliffhanger)

ohayou: good morning

meremia: take a cat, a bird, and a rabbit and mix them together, only without body feathers and beaks, and you get a general idea. Built more like felines than their cousin the cabbit.

Shao: means 'small' or 'laughter' (And here I thought I'd just made it up. Silly me. n,.,n )

Koshou: pepper


	10. Chapter 9: The Games of Demons

Just to unconfuse you, in the future I'll be copying Kurama's example: when Ivory is in her fox form, she is going to be called Ivory. And when she's in her human form, she will be called Zephyr. Just like Kurama is Kurama or Shuichi as a human and Yoko when he's all drop-dead gorgeous fox. (Mind you, his human form is nothing to spurn, but gods, if I could just find _one_ unclaimed guy with a body and brain like Yoko's…)

**KuramaIsFine:** The above message should answer your question and let you know I share the same opinion about Yoko. n,.,n

**Darknesspirals: **—Turns to figments/alter egos— All right, who gave D.S. the sugar? —crickets— Fine, whatever. You'll find out about the fortune in this chapter, darkness. And please don't flush the fish, the sewer-guys have been complaining about getting their legs bit.

**Arano Hono: **Yes, I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I hate finding them in chapters of fics I'm reading, but I can't help writing them. They're just so much fun and I actually get a couple extra reviews for each chapter that I do them. It's a rather irresistible combination. But you should be glad: on a couple of chapters of Fox's Mischief, I actually had to set a minimum-reviews-for-updates thing to get even one. Since those, I haven't needed to use it!

I also agree about Yukina. I spent an hour arguing with Neo Zaku about that subject (we go to the same junior college) and even filled him in on koorime reproduction. The silly male needs to explore the Net more; all he knows is the stuff in the movies and the actual anime. That's it. He didn't even know that Yukina and Hiei are twins. Please do the Atsuko one-shot? Because it'll probably be funny, or at the least it'll be good? And because I'm asking so very nicely?

**Silverwing013:** Huh? Death? Big giant question mark right here. And it would be 'Ivory's back'. As for the fun part, well, we'll see.

**Asilin Kheldarson: **Yes, I made them related to cabbits. They do rather look like them; I'll have to scan a drawing of one so I can send it to anyone who wants to see what they look like. They were originally for a trilogy of my own work, but since their coloration is based off soul-energy colors, it inspired me to add them to this story.

The twins are going back for two reasons: one, what happened that night wasn't the fortune-teller's fault; and two, because they're curious. Nervous, but curious.

**Kitsune Kit: **—the entire cast, author included, is left standing in a daze after the whirlwind that is K.K. Yoko and Hiei notice Aislin eyeing the 'Aislin catnip' and decide to share the sake and sugar in a closet somewhere—

**Magus784:** —Hiei pokes his head out of the closet— Messes are amusing and the Makai is already a warzone. —Goes back to hiding in the closet while Aislin runs around giggling—

Niana: The meremia are cute, aren't they? Kind of like the twins, only more child-like and the furballs can fly. The Avalon twins can't.

———————————————————————————————–

"Damn it, Koenma," Yusuke groans when he ambles into the Reikai Prince's office, yawning and stretching in casual clothes, his hair left ungreased for once. The coal-black strands feather into his face and fluff around his ears, very like the ruff of a rumpled Labrador puppy. He even has the same chocolate eyes of said puppy, but his are filled with annoyance at being woken before three on a Saturday afternoon. "What _now_?"

The prince is in his teenaged form for a change, though the binky is still very much in place in his mouth. Stressed hazel eyes shaded a dark oak-brown at the moment scrutinize the young man with no hint of the usual irritation one would normally see with Yusuke's standard, casual complaint.

"I have a mission for you, Yusuke. I had hoped that sending you in would not be necessary, but much to my extreme dismay I find that I must."

The serious, grim tone in which the words are spoken wake the demon-blooded human up the rest of the way, an edge of maturity straightening his spine and take his hands from his pockets. "I'm listening."

"Approximately three weeks ago a kitsune escaped from Reikai's Mid Security Prison wing and, as far as my informants were able to tell, fled to Ningenkai to hide there. I set Hiei on his trail the night it happened. When he failed to perform his duties with his usual ruthless efficiency, I set Kohaku on the case as well, hoping that that, at least, would yield results." A cold, hard emotion shutters the normally-open eyes of the prince, revealing that he has not lived for so long on his father's reputation alone. "For two weeks the pair of them have fed false information about the case to my informants and myself, and knowingly protected their target from my normal hunters."

"Why? I mean, why have either of them on the case at all?" Yusuke tilts his head to one side, attention occupied by the hide-away screen displaying a picture and the stats of one 'ragged Avalon'. "He seems pretty weak, to me."

"Be that as it may, the Avalon is swifter than our hot-tempered ally even with his reserves at zilch. And with the exception of you fighting at your fullest, Hiei is my fastest agent. As to the reason why they did it, we can only guess." A heavy sigh accompanies a weary rubbing of the 'Jr.' marked forehead. "The ragged Avalon was one of Aislin's pupils about one hundred years ago; he was captured in the aftermath of a gang-war battle by some of my troops where his sister died in the cross-fire. Hiei could have been doing it as a favor for Aislin, or he could just have been doing it because he felt sorry for Avalon. Hell, he might have been doing it just for spite, I have no idea. Kohaku has informed us upon questioning that she waited because Hiei asked her to, playing off her curiosity of wanting to see what would happen. She has been temporarily placed on suspension and will remain in the Ningenkai for a space of a month while her punishment is decided."

"You're joking. All the shit she's gone through for everyone, and you're _still_ punishing her like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar?" Disbelief and anger are clear, sparking Koenma's own formidable temper.

"Damn it, Yusuke! It's not like I'm looking forward to it! But this case is vital to the continued existence of the Makai and the Ningenkai! If it were a simple case of escaped-criminal-capture, I wouldn't give a damn! But the danger created by the ragged Avalon is too great to allow for missteps!"

One of Yusuke's random flashes of frighteningly intelligent insight strikes, narrowing those coal-lashed eyes in suspicion. "Something else about this case has got you spooked, Koenma. What is it?"

The temper is swallowed by defeat. "The ragged Avalon escaped back into Makai just two days ago. And in the past two days, the three most dangerous youkai have returned as well."

Blink. "No way. Hiei broke parole-terms and high-tailed it back home?"

"Yes. Aislin and Kurama have gone to the Makai as well, presumably to chase one after the other, after Aislin tried to hand me some story about Hiei only willing to go there because of Avalon."

Thinking back on Hiei's past deeds, Yusuke has to admit that the theory is perfectly logical and utterly typical of the ice-born fire apparition. Not once has the crimson-eyed male ever gone back on a promise or betrayed the trust of any of his—friends? Yes, _friends_—unless there was something greater than his own honor involved. Koenma catches the thoughts flashing behind the Spirit Detective's eyes with little effort, slumping back in his chair.

"I know, Yusuke, I know. I don't want to believe it, but I must. Hiei is still trailing the Avalon even though he broke an oath he made to me to do it. It is the thought of that trio being together, loose in that place, with no forms of binding upon them whatsoever, that worries me so. Aislin and Hiei together were the most ruthless of thieves during their partnership. Aislin and Yoko Kurama were the most unstoppable and strongest during their reign as the Queen and King of Thieves. The three of them working for me have forced the incursions of youkai into the Human World to almost zero and have worked to capture some of the strongest, nastiest demons on our wanted list. Should those three ever disregard their oaths and return to their old ways…" A heartfelt shudder. "I don't even want to think of it. Not even you would be able to stop them."

"So what do you want me to do about it, Koenma?"

"Three things, Yusuke, though I expect you'll find none of them to be easy." The prince holds up one finger. "One; find and arrest the ragged Avalon. The picture up there is the most recent one we've got; we got hold of his contact in your hometown, a nezumi youkai named Scripp."

Yusuke nearly chokes at the familiar face gazing out of the screen, eyes in the middle of the transition from gold to violet. "_Haru_?"

"So he was right under your nose?" A beaten groan from behind a hand. "And his power levels were likely so low you couldn't sense a damned thing. I should have brought you in on this from the start. I haven't learned a damn thing about this job yet…"

"Don't fall apart on me yet, toddler. What's the other two things?"

"Find Hiei and make sure he _isn't _doing illegal things with Kurama and Aislin. Last—and this is crucial, Yusuke—I need you to find the human girl Avalon took with him, if she's still alive." Yusuke stares into the calm face of Zephyr Uotani.

——

"Atchoo! Atchoo! Atchoo!" Aislin looks up from her crystals at the male reclining amidst the spires less than ten feet away, a snowy eyebrow arching upward.

"Should I bless you or wait for your head to explode?" she inquires mildly as she pours the last of her excess energy into a particularly lovely violet cluster standing as high as her chest.

"Hah, hah, snowflake."

An amused—yet unsettled—smile tugs at pink lips. "I do believe someone is talking about you, porcupine head. That means Obsidian has very little time left to do what he needs to do."

"Any idea what that is?"

"Honestly? No." She pats the tallest spire lovingly. "Like everyone else these days, my soul-brother, I am, as the humans say, 'playing it by ear'."

——

Warily the pair of foxes approach the small tent, tension slicking their hair to their heads along with their ears, stemming from their last experience with this thing. It's even the same robed youkai, the hood pulled back to allow visibility of the androgynous face with feline characteristics, that told them of that damning curse.

One violet eyebrow rises at the sight of the approaching pair, something akin to relief lighting the sapphire eyes. "Well, well, if it isn't the young Avalons. It is a pleasure to see you together again I must say. After I sent you from my tent that night, I feared for you as much as one like me is able to."

"With good reason," Obsidian tells her quietly as he slings a protective arm around his sister's shoulders, "since this is the first day my sister and I have been fully reunited in almost a century."

"Ah, so the readings were indeed true. I had hoped otherwise." A polite gesture with one arm draped in light cotton dyed a soft rose, a wry smile lighting upon the neko's face at the echoing motions of that fateful day. "Please, enter, and do not fear harm. I have read no danger of any sort occurring to anyone today in my cards and there is much that needs telling."

With all the wariness they have gathered in the last few minutes since sighting the canvas structure, the siblings slowly enter the dim interior of the tent. The seer follows behind them, pulling shut the door flap and plunging the small room into false dusk. The only light comes from cutouts in the fabric ceiling that mark out a few of the simple runes, backed in light gauze that keeps out rain and insects.

"Please, sit," the seer tells them, taking repose in a padded folding-chair in one corner and twitching long fingers towards folding-chairs beside hir. "Cease acting like rabbits instead of foxes, children. You need to hear this without bolting for the exit."

"It all depends if we need to or not," retorts Ivory as she gingerly sits down on the left chair.

"I assure you, you will not. Now, would either of you like some jasmine tea?" Obsidian shakes his head as he seats himself beside his sister. The silvery vixen repeats the motion. Thin shoulders shrug beneath the voluminous robe in an uncaring gesture. "Very well, allow me to begin. This may take several minutes so be patient."

"Understood."

"I have been researching the curse that I read upon you that night, for I was curious as to who would set such a horrid thing on two undeserving children, and I have found both the reason and the riddle for the spell's undoing. At the beginning of your careers as thieves there was a sorcerer who specialized in revenge-magic, whose castings often reflected upon the victim all the pain—real and imagined—that the instigator feels was caused by the spell's victim. Such a curse has been laid upon you, as payment for your believed crimes and for those done by your mentors, hence the severity if the spell is not broken in time.

"In short, youngsters, this is all in the name of vengeance, and the one who set the sorcerer at your heels was a man named Higurashi in return for the ruin your master the Winter Rose visited upon him long ago." Golden eyes meet cinnamon ones and share a look of confusion. Higurashi? According to the story they'd been told about the reptilian youkai, he'd been too much of a fool and too stubborn to bother doing something like this. The seer—who has _yet_ to tell them hir name—catches the glance and correctly interprets it. "Indeed, he was known for his unbelievably dense actions, but several centuries can bring wisdom even to fools. Not to mention power. Higurashi is now a being to tread lightly around, if one dares tread so closely at all."

Brows are furrowed in enlightened (but continuing) confusion, edged with a hint of fear and anger. Such a distant person has dared lay such a black-magic curse upon them and didn't even have the guts to tell them. Isn't the point of a curse that of knowledgeable suffering? Mahogany eyes meet gold.

"You'd think he'd want to gloat and tell us…"

"But that would mean we'd know about the curse and try to break it…"

"He's still an arrogant bastard if what Boss-sama told us is true…"

"But a few centuries can teach caution to anyone who lives that long…"

"He'd want to watch us suffer…"

"Except that he probably _has_ been watching us suffer," Obsidian concludes wearily. "I spent a long time in jail and I'm sure he has one of his spies somewhere in the prison ranks. He probably had someone there that night, too, just to see which one of us ended up dead."

Both turn to the unruffled seer and ask in unison, "So what's the riddle?"

"I'd say it's more like a scavenger hunt than a riddle, to tell you truly, young ones. However, this is what I have read…" An unwrinkled hand passes through the air in front of them, leaving curlicues of pale blue light behind that twist into words.

_"I am blind yet I can see,_

_I am the flower that eternally blooms._

_I am the Link._

_I am the Light._

_And I was shed at the beginning of the worlds._

_Gather us. Bind us. For we have been alone for time beyond measurement."_

"I am blind yet I can see…" Ivory muses, one hand reaching out to touch the words. They dissolve into nothing at her touch, yet her eyes remain distant and dim. "Why oh why does that sound so familiar?"

"I do believe you two have company," the seer tells them quietly. "Perhaps you should go and greet him." With identical looks of befuddled thought, the two rise, drop into automatic bows, and walk out. The seer just sits there with a pensive frown crinkling the smooth forehead.

The first sign the siblings have of something wrong in the bright afternoon is that no one stands waiting outside the darkened tent. No one in front of them, that is. A cold clearing of a throat makes them whirl with their hackles rises, hackles that slowly start to flatten again at the sight of a grim Hiei standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh, it's you, Jaganshi-san. Please don't sneak up on us like that." Hiei doesn't even look amused at the way they speak together, even after being apart for so long. Obsidian tenses.

"Jaganshi-san, that face of yours concerns me even more than one of Yoko-sama's sneaky smiles. What's wrong? And why are you not at the Lair? You mentioned last night that you'd be avoiding people today."

Looking very much as though he'd rather be back at the Lair and not here—or better yet, _anywhere_ but here—Hiei takes a deep breath before intoning dully, "Obsidian Avalon, you are hereby under arrest for your crimes against Spirit World."

——

"What?" the siblings squawk. "Why now, Jaganshi-san?" Ivory adds for good measure. A man carrying out a death-sentence on a beloved could not look more unhappy than the fire apparition does, the triangular face set into a flat mask.

"You have attained your goal of locating your sister in full. I gave my oath to you that that would be all the leeway that I could give you. Not even Aislin's threats can change that." A deep, regretful sigh. "I am sorry, Obsidian, but I have no choice."

The black fox gives the other male a rueful smile, accepting that his mentor's closest friend is in no way willing to do this, but that the fire apparition's code of morality won't let him do otherwise. "Honor's a bitch, isn't it?"

"She taught you her way of understatement," Hiei tells him flatly as he takes a step forward, hand going for the hilt of his katana—presumably to use in rendering his target unconscious. Instead, a piece of inked paper is stuck to his chest and another over his Jagan, a heavy word being spoken. The kajihenge tries to take another step forward or even move at all…

And finds himself quite unable to do so.

Ivory regards Hiei coolly, pleased that her talismans are doing their job. "My human mother _is_ Kumiko Uotani, Jaganshi-san. It would make sense that she taught me holding- and sealing-spells along with everything else. Now. I have a Game for us to play; care to hear the rules?"

The faintest quirk upwards of a thin eyebrow signals his unwilling assent. Obsidian is staring at his sister like she's insane as she stands there calmly and sets out the rules of her Game.

"We are as swift as you, but nowhere near as powerful. I will seal our youki-based abilities against each other but for no one else, so that none shall be able to catch any unprepared. You will try to catch us before we reach the Lair; specifically, Aislin-sama's Crystal Chamber at the very heart of our home. Should we reach the Chamber before you, you will allow us time enough to work out the solution to the curse that put us in this position in the first place. Should you win, we both go with you quietly and accept the punishments given to us by the toddler. You are allowed to attack us only to slow us down; killing blows, maiming and those strikes meant to deliver temporary oblivion are not allowed. In turn, we may use our abilities to slow _you_; we shall not entangle more than ten percent of your body, and you are allowed to use fire against our plants. Chemicals of any nature are forbidden, and will result in the Game being terminated and a free-for-all initiated—including calling allies in for help." A tiny smile as she pulls away the fuda affixed to his head.

The Jagan glows for a moment beneath the white headband before its master nods curtly and the second fuda is also removed, one of lavender paper taking its place. Identical lavender fuda are affixed to Obsidian and Ivory by the silver vixen, and she utters a word that crackles through the air. Ivory nudges Obsidian so that she and he stand about three feet from their opponent, the bowl with her fish still cradled carefully in the crook of her arm. "Upon the count of three, we will begin," Ivory says quietly. "One."

"On your mark," Obsidian whispers. Ivory flashes him a tense smile as all three crouch.

"Two."

"Get set," Hiei mutters as adrenaline floods through them.

"Three."/"Go!"

——

Two scratched, bruised, breathless young foxes tumble into a heap in the entrance of the Crystal Chamber, a bowl holding two fish somehow being kept from harm by the paler of the two. An petite woman looks up from a quasi-throne formed from several enormous spires, her mouth quirking as a male only a few inches taller than she stumbles to the entryway to rest his hands and weight above his knees while panting.

"Well, my dears, did you enjoy your race?" the woman asks mildly of the two almost hyperventilating on her floor.

"NANI?"

"What?" Aislin queries in mock-disbelief. "Just because you've both been gone for a century do you think that means I'm going to stop teaching you? You might have given up thieving, Ivory, but Obsidian probably hasn't. Either way, you're both woefully behind on training on all counts except for Ivory's fuda magic." A sweet smile over at the recovering fire apparition. "Thank you for your help, porcupine head. That was a magnificent performance worthy of any of the great actors."

"Hn." A wry smile. "These two are faster than I thought. I'm going to see what Gre'ich has in the way of liquid refreshment."

"Ask him if he can send down some strawberry tea, please? I'm really craving some but the lesson isn't finished yet." A negligent shrug is Hiei's response as he turns and walks away. The koorime woman's attention returns to the foxes slowly untangling themselves from their sprawls. "So. Have you learned anything from this lesson?"

Ivory raises a hand trembling with exhaustion. "Jaganshi-san is really, really fast. And really good with fire."

"Not the point of the lesson, youngling, but useful information for you that I've known for a very long time. Try again." Aislin adds in a firm, helpful tone, "Think _hard_."

Uncertainly, Obsidian offers, "An ally may not always remain an ally?"

Approval colors the jeweled eyes a shade of pale blue. "Excellent, 'Dian. That's part of what I was trying to teach you." After a few more minutes of recovery and hard thought, both turn to their teacher and shrug, unable to think of anything else that isn't already well-known. Aislin sighs, raising an admonitory finger. "Allies may not stay allies _is_ part of the lesson, but only part. There will come a time when neither myself nor any other will be able or willing to come to your aid and you must hone your abilities to their best in preparation of that day. Nice thinking with your fuda, Ivory, but Hiei _was_ putting on an act. Your foot-speed is marginally better than his but at hand-to-hand combat Hiei is _the best_, barring Yusuke at full strength. He could have easily stopped you from using your talismans had I not asked him to go a _little_ easy on you. Remember to thank him the next time you see him."

"Yes'm."

A warmer smile. "Considering neither of you has trained properly for a hundred years or so you did very well, the both of you, in using what skills you have and at coming up with that minor Game that you got Hiei to agree to. But remember: a majority of our cousins and kind do not have the morals or ethics that those here at the Lair possess, and Hiei holds himself to a higher standard than even most here. Another opponent may agree to the Game, but try to kill you again once your fuda are removed. Don't trust everyone's word as a given."

That wine-streaked head tilts to the side as she eyes the various scratches and minor injuries that the siblings picked up during their headlong dash from Pridesholt and that sensuous mouth softens significantly. "Now get over here so I can make sure we don't have another episode like that lust-demon infection."

"Inari forbid!" Obsidian groans with feeling, helping his sister to her feet as he gets to his and the both of them dropping into tailor-seats in front of their teacher. "That's one experience I _don't_ want to repeat!"

"The fool learns," says a dry voice from the entrance. Hiei walks in with a wooden mug in his hand, a tray with a pitcher and three more cups balanced on the other. "What a surprise."

"Thank you, Hiei," Aislin chirps at him while tending to her students. "So. Your opinion on their performance, Kikan-kun?"

Hiei sets the tray down on the armrest of the crystal throne, expression considering while Ivory twitches her fingers at him. The lavender fuda flutters off of his shirt into her waiting hand, joined a moment later by the two that had been affixed to the foxes. There had been those two times they'd nearly gotten him stuck with the fire-root around his wrists and ankles; the pond they'd tricked him into falling into; numerous rocks, tree-roots, vines, and thickets. Finally he shrugs. "For younglings not into their thirteenth decade they did fairly well. Especially when you consider that they haven't trained in a century. His timing is off, however, and her speed needs work. They both wouldn't be able to fight off a decrepit troll if their lives depended on it if it came to hand-to-hand, and their manipulation of plants is hopeless. Their teamwork is flawless."

"That translates to about a B-minus, younglings," Aislin supplies as the last scratch is Healed. "There we go. Now, you two have the rest of the day and tonight to relax, but tomorrow you two are going to start seriously training. So get some sleep, we're starting early."

——

"What do you think the riddle was talking about, brother?" Ivory questions late that night as they settle in for sleep. Set into one wall is their new fish-tank, sculpted by the resident stone-youkai and fronted with a large sheet of crystal-clear glass. It even has a water filter and a pump from one of the gang who'd stolen it last year, and it took barely a drop of energy to get some aquatic plants growing in the new structure. A hinged piece of stone, created so that it blends in with hardly a crack, is what allows food to be dropped into the water. A couple of ki-globes light the tank with a soft white glow, with the result that soothing patterns are being reflected on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the kitsune room.

The part of the vixen's mind that remains wholly Zephyr muses that the whole thing looks rather like some of the smaller tanks at aquariums she's visited, or like what would be suitable for a very rich person's home. The two living treasures swimming lazily within—utterly delighted with the five-foot tall, six-foot long, and three-foot wide enclosure—harmonize quite nicely with the simple water grasses and single water-lily rooted in the plain, grey-blue gravel that layers the bottom of the tank. A few semi-precious gems and some coins have been tossed in as well for a splash of color.

"I'm not really sure, sister," comes the drowsy reply. "Though the last bit sounds tantalizingly familiar. I swear there's a story that involves that line, but for the life of me I can't think of it."

A sigh. "Oh, well. We have a few months left to figure the riddle out and bind whatever it is we're supposed to be looking for. Let's just get some sleep."

Warm chuckling. "Good idea. I remember what Boss-sama's serious training sessions were like; we're gonna need all the sleep we can get. Night, sister."

"Night, brother."

——

A young man with slicked-back ebony hair strolls up to the edge of the Lair's front yard in time to watch a slender, graceful young man with numerous tails and long, ink-black hair climb to the top of an odd arrangement of poles and rope. It rather resembles a tightrope but only about six feet off the ground, surrounded by grinning people.

Chocolate eyes watch as a porcelain tea-cup filled with brown liquid and saucer is handed up to the male with a chuckle and the advice "Don't drop it, kit." Said cup and saucer are placed on top of the male's head while he balances easily on the small platform atop one pole.

At the foot of the pole stands a rather short, exotic female and a taller, silvery young woman, both wearing a mixture of greens and browns—though the shorter of the two wears wool, while the taller wears cotton. "All right, my winsome kit," calls the white-haired woman. "You know the routine! Get hopping!"

"Hai, Boss-sama," comes the resigned sigh. The watcher's eyebrow rises when the acrobat springs into a reverse somersault along the rope, vaults into several backflips, and lands on the far pole's platform. One hand touches the top of the silky head; gold eyes go wide, and he makes a frantic snatch for the upright tea-cup dropping a few inches away from his nose.

The watcher winces as balance is lost, the acrobat tumbling to the ground in an ungainly heap—with the teacup and saucer held safely upright in one hand. "Iiiiite…"

"So close, Obsidian, and yet so, so far," laughs Aislin as she walks forward, one hand outstretched to help her pupil up. "Your balance is just fine, but your timing's deteriorated quite a bit."

"I saved the cup, didn't I?" he protests cheerfully, handing it over to her with a bright, though rather sheepish smile.

"Indeed you did. Ivory? Think you're up to the challenge?"

The silver-haired vixen pales and gulps. "Umm, why don't I try it _without_ the boiling hot tea first?" she suggests while eyeing the tightrope. The watcher stiffens as a heavy hand settles on his shoulder.

"It ain't nice to spy, Urameshi," a rough voice chuckles, shoving him into the sunlight. "Oi! Look who's come ta visit!"

"Oh, dear," Aislin sighs as a sheepish Yusuke walks over with a smirking Ikazuchi close behind. "Hello, Yusuke. Finally got set on the case, did you?"

"You might say that." The Spirit Detective scratches his nose as he scrutinizes Ivory, puzzlement clear on his face. "Yanno, she looks a whole helluva lot like—"

"Zephyr?" the vixen supplies, climbing up onto the first platform. "Quite right, since I _am_ her. Hiya, Yusuke-san. How's Keiko?"

"What…the _hell_?"

The ice apparition now at his elbow chuckles wryly. "You aren't the only one she surprised. Detective, I'd like to introduce to you Ivory Zephyr Avalon-Uotani, my pupil and the only person I know who's somehow managed to almost duplicate Yoko's little soul-transfer trick."

"How…?"

"I'm not telling," singsongs Ivory while she loosens up. "Brother? Do be nice and catch me if I try to land on my nose? Pretty please?"

"No problem, Ivory! I'll be your spotter!"

"Less talking, chibi-Yoko, and more training," Aislin advises firmly. The vixen sighs, takes a deep breath, and does her best to repeat her brother's performance sans fragile piece of drink-ware. She almost makes it, too, but her foot slips on the last back-flip, one hand grabbing automatically for the rope as she falls, ending up with her legs caught safely in Obsidian's arms while still clinging to the twisted length of fibers.

"Oh, damn and blast it!"

"Try again, youngling," the koorime commands before turning back to Yusuke. "So, Detective, what exactly did the toddler send you to do?"

Yusuke ticks them off on his fingers, half of his attention taken up by the pretty, athletic female stripping down to a tanktop and shorts before climbing once more back onto the platform. "Double-check on Hiei, snag Obsidian, and hunt down Zephyr. Did they do this sort of thing all the time before?" he adds in a distracted tone when the silvery vixen makes it to the other side, only to fall backwards and into the arms of her laughing brother.

"Indeed. It's standard training, though as you probably saw it usually includes a teacup." A wicked smile. "You're drooling, Yusuke."

The demon-descended human quickly swallows and wrenches his eyes away, to find a much safer place to rest on Aislin's amused face. "Sorry. So what happens with the cup, anyway?"

"It moves with the trainee, partially depending on centrifugal force, partially depending on the skills of the person. If it was someone like Yoko doing that—and he _has_ done it, mind you—you'd see that the teacup and its contents get transferred from top of the head to the bottom of the feet in rapid order. With those with speed like Obsidian, it's nearly impossible for anyone to see him move."

"As for me, Detective," a dry, male voice says at the teen's shoulder, "I can assure you that I have not been getting into my old tricks." The punk turns to find Hiei standing just behind him, a wicked smile to match Aislin's on his lips. "Nor do I have any intention to while on parole and on this mission."

"You're failin' miserably, Hiei, I gotta tell ya," Yusuke sighs. "The toddler was havin' a whole lot of nightmares at the thought of you three loose again, off robbin' and lootin' and whatever else the hell you did in the ol' days."

"'The ol' days' as you call them," Aislin chides, "ended less than two decades ago, Yusuke. Hardly old by a demon's reckoning of time. Please remember, it will be the way you see things within a few decades as well, when that youkai blood of yours _really_ starts 'kicking in'."

"Nah," Yusuke chuckles in self-deprecation, "my motto's 'live for today'."

"As well as 'kick ass and/or shoot now, ask questions if anyone's alive afterwards," both elemental youkai tell him in amusement. The half-blood just shrugs; he honestly can't deny that oh-so-accurate description. The three watch in silence while Obsidian takes another turn, this time actually managing to end with the teacup firmly atop his noggin without a single drop spilled. Yusuke lets out a low whistle and Aislin nods approvingly at her pupil.

"Very good, winsome kit. If your sister can make the run without the teacup and without falling off, you both get breakfast." With that incentive, Ivory tries a third time to backflip across the rope—and this time succeeds, the pair dashing off happily for a well-deserved meal.

"Doesn't seem too hard to do that. Why're they so hungry?"

"They—and I—have been up since well before dawn, Yusuke," Aislin informs him dryly, her lips twisted sideways into a smirk. "And I've been training them non-stop since. This was a reward exercise, something they got to do if everything else was done to my satisfaction. An easy task, I suppose it would be called, though if you think it's so easy why don't _you_ try it?"

Yusuke is busy trying to come up with an excuse to avoid the challenge when a winded, dusty youkai with violet skin and no hair races up, gasping and waving a scaly arm. "Ikazuchi-sama! Ikazuchi-sama!"

The lightning-wolf pushes through the crowd to the runner's side, anticipation lighting those butter-yellow eyes and fluffing his short-cropped mane of brindle-blond. "Nyolo! Good news, I hope?"

"Dragon's…Tear…on display…at Stone City's Museum…of World Treasures," reports the odd youkai, panting and swallowing to wet his throat between words. The teacup that had been used in training is handed to him; he drains the contents in a heartbeat and hands the cup back with a nod of thanks. "For three days only, from midmorning to midafternoon, the Dragon's Tear diamond will be on display for public viewing. Living security is lousy so far, but there's cameras and sensors friggin' _everywhere._ The stone is being kept in a container made of that new crap that's harder than hell to break or cut with laser-sensors and touch-sensitive flooring as a bonus challenge." The round, black eyes shine with unabashed greed. "But the stone is abso-friggin'-loutely _gorgeous_, Boss!"

Ikazuchi claps his hands together and rubs them with an acquisitive grin baring most of his teeth. "Excellent! Time to get back what's ours, my lambs! Alpha and Beta squad?"

"Present and accounted for!" pipes a reptilian female no more than three feet tall, echoed a breath later by a hulking bear apparition, both wearing a grey bandanna around their heads.

"Good! Gather your people and meet me in Plannin' Room Eight in ten minutes." With brisk nods, the two melt into the crowd while Ikazuchi strides into the Lair. Yusuke lifts an inquiring eyebrow at Aislin, who shrugs back.

"Don't look at me, detective. I have nothing to do with this caper, nor do I plan to. All I know is, the Dragon's Tear is a diamond the size of your thick head that once belonged to the Lair. It disappeared over a century ago, and we've been tracking it since; after all, thieves are the worst kind of people to steal from because we have a habit of taking things back."

"Wha' fings?" comes the muffled question as Ivory and Obsidian walk up with plates loaded with food; what look like more Makai-type apples are being held to lips by sharp teeth alone. "Wha goin' on?"

"Holy crap, that's a lot of food."

"Children eat more than adults, fool," Hiei snaps coolly, "and youkai children even more. This is a _light_ meal, almost a snack for them."

"Eww, is that _raw_ meat?"

"Yusuke, get it through your head; Ivory and Obsidian are not human, but they are children. Very intelligent children, but children nonetheless." Aislin shakes her head at the Spirit Detective's naivete. "For future reference, youkai youngsters need fresh food—whether that be vegetable or animal—to supplement their diet. Cooking destroys several crucial nutrients needed for proper growth and health. Thus, the meat does _need_ to be raw. Besides which, raw meat tastes quite nice. And don't go turning green in the face," she adds tartly, flicking him on the nose. "In case you've forgotten, let me ask you what you think sushi is."

"To answer your question, foxling," Hiei drawls to Obsidian, "a portion of your gang is planning to retake a jewel called the Dragon's Tear."

Obsidian freezes as memory drops an anvil on his head. At the beginning of their apprenticeship, when Ivory had caught a small illness and had spent the day sleeping in their room, Aislin had told him a story about the diamond that had once held pride of place in the mundane half of the Treasure Hall. (The other half holds the magical or otherwise enchanted items.) Named the Dragon's Tear, the story behind the stone was that before the creation of the worlds, before the dragons had gone to sleep beneath Makai, there had been one dragon that had watched the battle between King Enma Yama-Daioh and the powerful demon. It had wept at the carnage that was wrought upon the combatants, the first tear changing into a drop-shaped diamond utterly without special properties, and then fled to the bowels of Makai to await the end of the worlds with the other dragons.

"'I was shed at the beginning of the worlds'…THAT'S IT!"

"What's 'it', brother?" Ivory demands impatiently. "Stop being so cryptic for a change!"

Brilliant gold eyes, pupils slit to almost nothing in excitement, are turned to the silvery vixen. "The answer to the riddle, sister! _They're all gems!_" When she continues to look confused, he elaborates. "The five keys to the curse, Ivory! The blind-seeing eye, the flower, the Link, the Light, the thing that was shed at world's beginning! All of them are _jewels_!"

"You think the Dragon's Tear is a key to unraveling the curse that's threatening your separation?" Aislin asks in a tone requesting confirmation. At Obsidian's fervent nod the koorime woman sighs. "Oh, dear. That's going to make this heist very important indeed. It looks like I may actually have to get involved in it."

"I _will_ arrest you, Aislin. I'm still Spirit Detective."

"Yusuke, you trying to arrest me would be like trying to grasp water in a liquid or vapor form with your bare hands—no easy feat. Please try to avoid the business end of my arsenal; I'd hate to have to kill you because you interfered." The cold gleam in her turquoise eyes tells the demon-descended human that she is most certainly not joking. Taken aback, Yusuke just blinks at her with a faint edge of hurt frosting his chocolate-brown eyes. "These two are essentially my children, detective, and to do anything that brings them harm with be the day you sign your death warrant. Understood?"

Without even waiting for his hesitant nod, the Winter Rose pivots on her heel and stalks into the Lair. Hiei just shakes his head at his soul-sib's actions before enlightening the stunned boy about Aislin's behavior. "Foxes are a very clannish lot, Yusuke, possibly the worst-so in the Makai. To harm any of them is to risk all's wrath, unless said fox is pursuing private business on someone else's territory—such as stealing. Then you still earn their enmity, but they will refrain from killing you straight off." A shrug. "The snowflake is part fox and the instincts from the kitsune blood influence her as strongly as the koorime and the human she bears. Be assured, she means the threat. And try to put off arresting Obsidian for as long as possible."

Leaving Yusuke to settle in the tilt that has just been given to his view of the world, the fire apparition shoos the two young foxes towards the Lair entrance, reminding them in a very sarcastic manner that they still have much training to do, food to eat, and a bath to take before they ruin his sense of smell.

Speaking of smell…

————————————————————————————————

I honestly didn't mean to make this a cliff-hanger, but I think something close to eight pages Microsoft Word standard, 10 font is enough. Besides, I have to get you guys to read the next chapter somehow, don't I? (Like you really need incentive!) I know my regulars will do so, but can some new 'faces' please review, too, just so I know that it's not only eight people reading my work? I'm a little needy.

PS. Hey, ya'll, I'm back from Fanime 2005. What a trip. Word of advice: if you wish a stress-free con, do not do Der Cosplay. While doing the skit Bishounen Idol was a whole hell of a lot of fun (and the spotlight addicting), the tech crew screwed us over several times in different ways, and rehearsing was a pain in the ass. However, I think I did pretty good in my role as Koto, and our costume crew (Anne and her mom Sapphire, who played Yoko and Kuronue, respectively) did a stellar job on the costumes. We even had Juri and a cute stuffed Puu.

For anyone else who went (and wasn't part of my group! n,.,n) if you're wondering what I look like, I was the only Koto there. Anyone going to future Fanime cons, I'm not likely to be reappearing as her for a couple of years. I'll give you a heads-up on costumes so you can actually talk to me face to face (and swat me for all the unfair cliffies I put into my fics), 'cause that would just be cool. About as cool as all the loot I got this year. I even got a Kurama plushie! Squee! ♥♥♥♥ And, by sheer luck, I found a guy who was doing Naruto village designs on clothes: I got a spiffy white tank-top with the Sand hourglass on it. There was also a really nice woman there making these seriously cute jackets with little bat or angel wings on them, anime-style. I got a white fuzzy one with little blue wings—a great find, 'cause I forgot to bring something long-sleeved and was freezing my little fox butt off. Lessee, I think the name of the maker was Diva-licious…that's what the tag says, anyway. —sweatdrops—

Downside: I seem to have two things that I lost while packing up and leaving: my favorite chenille green pillow and this gorgeous drawing of Sephiroth with purple-trimmed wings and this stellar halo. (If said artist happens to see this, please e-mail me or review and leave an email or website or something! I need to buy another one!)

PPS: Hah, remembered the air-mattresses this year! Hotel floors are very uncomfortable without them. And Zaku-kun, seriously, your driving is just insane. I'm glad I was in my own car. Kiss kiss! n,.,n


	11. Chapter 10: Discoveries

Yes, I know, very odd cliffie for last chapter. But hey, I'm the author, and I get to screw with fictional and non-fictional people's heads if I want to, right? Any other author who claims they don't is either a liar or has somehow managed to avoid such things as unforeseen plot twists and cliff-hangers. Is that even possible?

Disclaimer: I know, I haven't put this in in a while. Shiku?

Shiku: Yu Yu Hakusho is in no way owned by Niana, except for a frightening amount of merchandise. Seriously. Half her wall scrolls are YYH, she has two figurines and a plushie of Kurama, and she even— _—gets whacked in the head by Niana—_

Enough already! Just finish the disclaimer.

Shiku: _—rubs head—_ Fine, fine. Any attempts to sue will get you nothing more than a bunch of merchandise that you could buy just as easily with the money you'd pay the lawyer.

**Arano Honou: **I know, I couldn't believe it either. He knew they were sibs, but no idea that they were twins. Go figure. The Atsuko feature sounds interesting. I'll have to take over a library computer so I can wander over and read it one of these days. _—once again rails at the stupidity of rock-brained DSL servers—_ I miss my cable internet.

The results of the binding—once they get all five, and they will, it's just gonna be how that'll be interesting—are currently top secret. But I think you'll get one hell of a kick out of it. And no, I never said that last chapter's end was a good cut-off point. I just said that I was cutting off there because that was a good-sized chapter already. I agree, it was strange.

**Silverwing013:** Of course the carrot-top's gotta be left out of the loop. It's a story-line tradition, even in the anime! Everyone else is just getting mild revenge on the toddler. _—evil smile—_

**Magus784:** Gomenasai, demo sore wa himitsu desu. At least as far as the reason goes. And what makes you think the top layer has any sanity at all? Remember, that's where Yusuke's Team ends up during the Chapter Black story arc, and it was pretty well deserted except for the dregs. _—checks her watch—_ Aislin, how long do you plan to run around like this?

Aislin: Wheeeee!

……Apparently a little longer. -,.,-! Anyway, sorry for not updating sooner. To quote a fanfic version of Kuno that is frighteningly accurate: 'Manure occureth'. On the upside, my friend Tom made it home a few Sundays ago from boot-camp. Pity the poor bastard, he lived through it. n,.,n

**Darknesspirals: **I love the wild-hair look and the markings. The one on his chest, particularly. I'm sure he'll get the whole 'demon-time' thing sooner or later, the question is more along the lines of how Keiko will cope. (For those of you who have somehow managed to watch until the end of the anime, SHH! I wanna find out for myself! Of course, that means waiting for Zaku to let me borrow the new DVDs as they come out, but oh, well!)

**KuramaIsFine:** I didn't really want to make a cliffhanger for a change, but that's life.

**Chirishman:** Au contraire. While sashimi _is_ plain raw fish, sliced thin, sushi also consists of raw fish—just with a few more ingredients, especially the seaweed rolls. Generally, only things like the barbecued eel (yummy!) is cooked. This is the voice of experience; we have a fabulous Japanese restaurant in Novato called Taki's. His scallop nigiri (fish on top of rice for those who don't know) is fantastic, especially with a dipping sauce of soy and wasabi! (Mmm, wasabi…) And his green tea is the only kind I actually like. Kind of smoky and not bitter like most. He also has this wonderful dessert: green tea ice cream. Kind of like the milk teas you find in the local specialty stores, but frozen. It's really good!

**Kitsune Kit:** Hope your obaa-san gets better soon, and I've had similar comp problems. One time when I was in high school and I borrowed the second Utena DVD from a friend, I made my dad's comp crash no less than six times just trying to watch it. (We didn't have a DVD player back then, gasp!) Electronics do not equal my friends. Please remember to breathe while cursing.

**Shadowkitsuneonna:** You have my deepest condolences. Math. Yuck! English, okay, but my opinion of math was stated by Kohaku a few chapters back.

————————————————————————————————————

"Yermm, that's Yusuke's scent all right," a certain wolf youkai sighs as she travels her way slowly into a forest deep within the Makai, far beyond her family's territory and the place known as the Forest of Sorrow. Nao has been left in Japan as punishment for shredding her favorite pair of chibi-winged socks. "Sweat, booze, cigarettes, and that really nice deodorant of his. And all that lovely energy nearly burying everything else." A glance up at the canopy flashes sunlight off the familiar sparkly-violet eye-shadow as well as a faint dusting of glitter on the backs of her furry ears and across her cheeks.

She continues to pick her way around obstacles—like the two wood youkai completely oblivious to anything but each other (she sneaks past hoping she doesn't blush hard enough to explode her head) and the melee between roses and irises in a sunny clearing. Man, and just when she thinks the Makai doesn't get any weirder.

It's been a couple of days since Yusuke went in search of Obsidian, Hiei, and the love-birds, and with no word from any of his employees, Koenma has finally sent in his 'nose'. Despite the fact that her suspension was supposed to last for a month, with some kind of punishment to follow. A derisive snort: it was either her or Kuwabara, and without the same kind of training the rest of his team-mates have gone through, the young man has no hope of surviving for long here. Besides, it's not like the carrot-top would be able to _find_ anyone here with all the youki choking the air.

"Feh, being the one person on the team with a wolf-youkai's sense of smell can be a real pain sometimes," she mutters to herself, adding loudly to thin air, "And you're upwind, whoever you are. Try taking a shower more than once a year."

"Uh, halt and be recognized?" comes an uncertain voice from above in the trees. Kohaku rolls her eyes. A novice. Lovely.

"I'm Kohaku Piers, niece to Ikazuchi Blade-Arm. I've come to visit and share some news." Her clearance is spoken with no little impatience, and again the uncertain voice speaks.

"Oh, um, okay. Hang on a second, please." A faint rustling indicates motion, Kohaku choosing to simply stand there with her hands in her pockets humming a favorite techno song. Some short time passes before a tall, brindle-blond man comes stepping out of the underbrush.

His butter-yellow eyes light up at the sight of the chocolate-brindle female standing there with one iridescent-coated eyebrow lifted. "Hello, Uncle! Greetings from me and a whole bunch of other people!" And she's swept up into one of her uncle's infamous wolf-hugs, getting spun around several times before being set on her feet.

"And fair skies, my young rain-caller! How fare you?" His tanned arm slung across her shoulders, he leads her into the underbrush, back the way he had come.

"Oh, just fine, Uncle. Cousin Mavelle says to tell you that the hunting's been good this year and you should expect a lot of little lungs to be singing come the end of fall at home. Aunt Rhadhia wanted me to remind you that you still owe her forty silver full-moons for some bet or another, and Far-singer said I should see if I can't give your home area a good soaking to see if that would replace some of the air in your head. The usual."

"I keep hoping Rhadhia would forget about that wager; guess I should know better by now."

"Yup."

"Business call?"

"Uh-huh."

"Obsidian?"

"Yup."

"Yusuke's already tried and nearly got his head bitten off by Aislin-sama."

"That's too bad. Guess I'll just have to be subtl—yeek!" The forest and her uncle disappears, Kohaku finding herself at the foot of Genkai's temple staircase, her raised foot comfortably set on the first step. In the air in front of her is neatly written a single sentence of cold fire.

_"Don't even think about it, wolf-girl."_ Judging by the scent of the youki now coating her head to foot as well as the writing, it's a safe bet for Kohaku that this is purely Aislin's work.

"What?" she questions empty air. "Don't I even get to say hello to my boyfriend first?"

—

"Aislin-sama, was that really necessary?" Ikazuchi sighs when his retired boss appears beside him with a soft 'poom' sound of air being displaced. "She's less of a challenge than Yusuke would be if he chooses to fight us."

"It was quite necessary. She would remind Hiei of his previous oaths to Koenma, for starters, and I don't particularly care to break 'Dian out of jail anytime soon. Second, she would also be another distraction, someone for us to keep an eye on for while she is in our territory. Not to mention she would make taking the Dragon's Tear a near-impossible task."

"But teleportation? You could have left something behind, a lung, maybe." The ice apparition fixes him with one of her Looks and he amends, "Or not. But really, I don't get to see my niece that often and we were having such a nice visit."

Aislin turns and starts walking the three hundred feet back to the Lair's entrance, her white wool standing out against the dark greens, browns, and bruise-purples that make up the foliage. "You still have a very strange sense of humor, lightning-wolf. I suggest you throttle it for the time being while we plan what we'll do."

——

"Sorry, Koenma, no luck. I barely got to say hello to my uncle before I got plunked at Genkai's place. Aislin's keeping me at arm's length and it really sucks. I miss my fluffy-fur."

"Kohaku…"

"Sorry, habit. Anyway, like I said, no luck. Not even a whiff of Obsidian's youki or body-smell at all."

"But you know where the Lair is?"

"Uh-uh, Koenma-san. No dice. That's one location I'm not revealing in a million, zillion years. That'll put a lot of people who are in the care of my uncle in jeopardy and as a wolf I can't do that. And don't even try to get Shikyo in on this, 'cause Hiei's the one who set my mind-wards up nice and tight."

The Spirit World prince sighs in resignation. "All right, then, I won't try. She's trained to only read the minds of those who have agreed or who are otherwise incapacitated, like some of my field-agents, anyway. Go on home, I'll have Botan contact you if a mission comes up that doesn't involve the Avalon."

The wolf-girl salutes crisply and exits, leaving Koenma to sink back into his chair and wish that the whole damn thing would be over already.

——

There is a large commotion at Stone City's Museum the next afternoon, with security-personnel taking a drastic upswing as well as all guests being politely asked to leave. The cause of it all? A single piece of paper the size and shape of a business card in ivory, upon which is written in elegant script; 'Tonight at ten o' clock we will steal back the Dragon's Tear. Signed, the Talons.'

What the museum's owners don't know is that 'the Talons' are the Alpha and Beta squads from the Lair, since it is common practice for the groups to come up with their own names for their teams so as to further confuse the populace about their real identity.

Of course, the fun part is the secret the Talons are keeping until tonight.

The guards waiting at the designated time see no one walk past them into the building, but what is shown on the security cameras is a different story. A small, petite woman with flowing white hair marked by strips of wine-berry-red by her ears drifts through the hallways, disabling the cameras and sensors with her mere presence alone. Mist fills each corridor that she walks in, obliterating visual fields into a wall of silvery-gray.

Unaccosted, the intruder walks into the room holding the Dragon's Tear, a room filled with guards, sensors, and alarms. The female slips past them all, picks up the stone, and conjures another in its place, leaving a tiny scrap of paper at the foot of the display pillow. As she turns to the one remaining security camera, the screen it's connected to watched by all the guards tied up by the grinning group of thieves, the exotic female dissolves, lengthening into a young black fox that grins at the camera, giving it a cheery 'V' and then sprinting out, setting off every alarm in the place.

The other thieves slip out while the guards are running for the plundered room, meeting up with the fox outside and racing off for home. When the piece of paper left behind is found, the owners don't know whether to start laughing or yelling at all the expensive guards they'd hired for nothing.

The card reads: _'Congratulations! You're the first to be tricked by the Forgotten Avalon! Unfortunately, you won't be getting the Tear back, since it belonged to someone else in the first place. Please refer to our future contestants for details. Signed, the Forgotten Avalon and the Talons.'_

——

"I see the spell worked, my winsome kit."

The young black fox reaches into the pocket-space he'd snugged against his back before the raid and produces a huge stone with a diameter equal to that of a regulation-sized basketball, tapering into a needle-sharp point at one end with the other round and smooth as glass. "So did the plan. We left the place boiling like an ants' nest and came here as fast as we could." His golden eyes are dim in thought. "The curse-key said something about binding, but are we supposed to bind the stone to us or to each other?"

"Let us do both, and so take no chances," Aislin says in a logical tone, gesturing the tired band ahead of her into the warm welcome of the Lair, cradling the Tear gently in her arms as they walk. "Lord and Lady, but it has been a long time since I've seen the sparkle of this stone in the starlight. It is a welcome sight."

A silver vixen trots alongside the black male and the ice apparition, her cinnamon-colored orbs brimming with confusion. "Aislin-sama, _can_ we do both? I've only heard of one binding ceremony, and that was for a sympathetic-magic spell."

The turquoise eyes shine an eerie pale silver-blue in the moonlight as the ice apparition tilts her head up to reply in a voice as gentle as the breeze blowing 'round them, "Youngling, if one puts one's mind to it, there is no such thing as 'can' or 'cannot'." Her special smile, the one only the two of them ever see, flickers across her face for a moment. "Now come along, and let us unlock the first step in this puzzle."

——

There are only three people standing in the faint glows cast by the numerous clusters and spires of stone in the sanctuary known as the Crystal Chamber, two dressed in white, one dressed in deepest black. The one dressed in black is our adorable renard who turns to his mentor with a bemused expression on his face. "Aislin-sama, why are we dressed like this?"

"Because," is the koorime's serene reply, "you two are effectively two sides of the same coin. To dress you as the two halves of the Taoist Balance is an outward symbol of that. Not to mention the fact that these colors suit you two."

The twins share a glance that says without words; _knew there had to be an ulterior motive. Figures._ But Aislin flows around them, touching this crystal and that so that the chosen stones glow with the energy locked within. The amethyst gleams a steady blue-violet, the quartz burns a flickering, flame-like pale green-blue, and so on, each color tinted by the youki contained by the graceful spires and glittering clusters. Soon there is a circle of lit masses, softly lighting the room in a dream-like moonsilver blue shaded lavender and green.

The koorime woman sets the Dragon Tear directly in the middle of the circle, beckoning the two foxes to stand on either side. To each she gives a tiny knife made from the crystals of this room, water-clear and unflawed before she steps from the circle.

(!("Illuminate,")!) she says in a strange tongue that neither kit has heard before but still somehow understands, the crystals blazing up until they burn in a solid band around the pair. (!("Hiruiseki shed at the birth of the worlds, awaken.")!) A deep crimson light flickers to life within the diamond, growing until it forms a tiny, sexless body in the heart of the stone.

(!("Lady of the Deep Winter, I am awake.")!) The voice is barely a voice, seeming more of a mixture of bells and birdsong than words, as the tiny creature bows inside the Dragon's Tear. (!("What is your wish?")!)

Aislin gestures to the two staring down in wonder at the spirit of the Ryu no Hiruiseki with a faint smile. (!("These two desire to offer you a contract. Let me make known to you Obsidian Avalon and Ivory Zephyr Avalon-Uotani.")!)

A feeling of being weighed by a very ancient mind pours into the minds of the twins, as the tiny spirit looks up at them with a featureless face. For several long moments, the three stare at each other before that feeling of measurement vanishes and the little crimson head nods.

(!("Accepted. Terms?")!)

"Um, we really hadn't thought that far," Obsidian admits, kneeling down so the stone spirit can see him better. "You see, there's been a curse placed on us and there are five keys that we need to bind…um, contract with, to break it. We don't really want you to do anything for us besides that."

The spirit seems amazed and no little flattered. (!("You really don't want me to do anything? Really?")!)

"Really," Ivory confirms, kneeling down as well. "Do we have to do anything for you?"

(!("Nothing at all!")!) cries the Ryu-Hiruiseki in delight. (!("I accept the terms of your contract!")!) The two kitsune look to their mentor, who gestures that they should cut their palms and press them to the stone. The tiny blades slice through the skin like paper, taking on a ruby tinge from the blood that swiftly begins to drip before their palms flatten against the diamond.

(!("Spirit of the Dragon's Tear,")!) Aislin intones softly, still in that unsetting-yet-comforting language, (!("you are hereby entered into a lifetime contract with Obsidian Avalon and Ivory Zephyr Avalon-Uotani. There are no deeds to be done by either party, only a soul-link to be forged by itself. You have accepted these terms, as have they. So witnessed, so declared. It is done.")!)

Light blazes from every crystalline substance in that room, blinding all whether or not they're wearing eye-gear or if they've flung up an arm to protect their eyes. It is slow to fade, and those who can see the soonest slowly follow the stuff to its source in the Crystal Chamber. Curious, brave Ikazuchi is the first to peer into the space, blinking away reaction tears to find that each of his young friends now has a tear-drop stone set into the middle of their foreheads.

And are currently passed out on the floor to the exasperation of their teacher. "Oh, for the love of Inari…"

——

_For the first time, Obsidian walks the paths of the Void by himself. It is strange comfort he finds here, for everything is familiar and at the same time it is utterly foreign. He doesn't quite understand what his teacher and the stoic Hiei had been talking about in their past conversations of this place. The only stars he sees are set into a midnight-velvet sky overlaying this wonderful enormous garden filled with unnumerable blooms. The way they talked they made it sound as though it was like what space must look like. He wonders briefly if this is his own soul—and if so, when did it become so complicated?_

_He continues to wander, some tiny fragment of his Self worrying that he'll burn himself out in this place while the rest of him scoffs at that fretful voice. Burn out here? How? By walking himself to death?_

_That fragment continues to nag but he shoves it into the farthest reach of his mind, content to walk through the night's scents and breezes. This place is far too comfortable to be any kind of danger, right? Looking around him, he has to smile. Flowers bloom in a profusion of organized chaos, letting their perfume dance on the air and add to the scent he associates with 'night'. There's no one else around; no Reikai authorities, no other demons, no one. He isn't being chased, there's no need for him to be anywhere—_

**Oh yes there is!**_ shouts that little doubting fragment. _

_—And he doesn't feel like doing anything else but wander, barefooted, over dew-soaked grass. This is truly what it means to be fox, he thinks to himself, sighing in content. To truly feel the rhythm of the land and the plants around you, to hear their voices sing softly in content…_

_His footsteps falter. The plants aren't singing. It's pure silence here, not even birdsong. The only noises that reach his ears are the ones made by his own two feet. The silence jars him as nothing else would and he turns in a circle with his ears pricked to listen. Nothing._

Too silent!_ That doubting fragment cries. _Too silent, too quiet, too isolated! Trap! Traptraptraptraptrap!

_"Calm yourself, my apprentice," a soothing voice says from a shaded arbor. "There is no trap here, nor is there truly anything else but you here in this place. This is your Voidscape, the place you will come to when your soul leaves your body for brief periods, no longer than a night. This is the place where you can ask questions and find the answers and know them for Truth."_

_He approaches the arbor with extreme care, relaxing when he finds only an oversized Arctic fox curled comfortably on the carved wooden seat, with maroon-tipped ears tilted in leisure. Her glittering turquoise eyes are serene and patient as he regains control over his doubt and once more finds comfort in the solitude. "What am I doing here?" he muses aloud, and is answered as promised._

_"The link with the Dragon's Tear is not simply a magic one. It is a soul bond, and a stone like that was here long before youkai walked the realms of the Darkness. To link with it is to share in that power, as it will share in your life force and your emotions. A bond is a thing of give-and-take, winsome kit, and that is something you must always remember. There truly is no such thing as a free lunch." One snowy paw rises to point farther into the garden. "Yonder lies your vision-pool, the place where you will See without seeing. Why don't you go take a look?" _

_Obsidian had turned his head to follow the paw, but when he turns back the fox is gone, leaving only the faintest dusting of platinum powder to show that it had not been entirely delusion._

_He spots a cherry tree in full blossom in the distance and strolls over, standing beneath the frothy boughs as the petals shower down beneath the moonlight._

_Ivory Dreams too, walking through a hedge maze with her other Self keeping pace beside her. "Where do you think we are, Self?" the vixen inquires softly to her companion, who shrugs._

_"I don't know, but I think I like it here. It feels like I've been here before."_

_Eyes the color of dried blood flecked with ruby glance sideways at the dark-silver girl. "We have, I should think. This feels like the Void."_

_"I thought the Void was that place Aislin took us to, with all those stars…" Flavors and colors swirl around them, all reminiscent of winter: snowcones and plain ice, hearthfire, wool, fox musk and fur, the clean crispness of a cold wind, the sharp taste of mint and rosemary, spiked with apple cider, warm amber and the dancing of flames. With that as proof, the two fall into a quiet conversation of how they might have gotten here in the first place. _

_They've decided on the Dragon's Tear being the culprit by the time they reach the exit of the maze and emerge into an enormous garden. Zephyr catches the sleeve of Ivory's kimono, pointing to where a giant cherry tree rises into the air with branches buried under masses of pale pink flowers._

_Beneath that tree is the reenactment of the 'human' girl's calmer dream; a dark form stands quietly beneath the branches with his back to the trunk and the wind, dressed in a billowing black silk shirt and close-fitting black velvet trousers, his feet bare in the ankle-deep grass. Long ebony hair swirls over his shoulders as petals shower around him at the slightest breeze; he turns deep gold eyes towards the new arrivals to his Voidscape._

_From nowhere, that voice Zephyr had heard before speaks into the silence. She barely recognizes it as her own. _"In the distance of my vision, there stands a stranger all alone. Who balances against 'forever' a carved and polished marble stone. Their hair is long and black as sinning, in their eyes are suns of gold. Bent long with the weight of searching until the very hells grow cold."

_"Welcome to the Void, my sister," comes the soft whisper on the breeze. "Come and see my tree." With sure footsteps silenced by the lush blades of emerald grass the two half-soul maidens approach and stand beside the renard under the protection of the sakura. _

_Neither needs to speak to know that this tree will be the heart of all of Obsidian's future trips here, if he has any more. Neither knows whether or not this will be their last solo visit here, so they savor all that the isolated place holds. Eventually, though, they lace their hands together and walk on, seeking the 'place' that will be the silver vixen's heart-place here in the 'scape they have crafted._

_The sound of running water draws them to a hollow in the rounded land, through a circle of wisteria to discover a small pool being fed by a tiny waterfall. There are several rocks here coated in thick moss, perfect for seats, and the two smile. This is the perfect place for her—and their place for Truth-seeking visions. _

_And then everything disappears as darkness claims them._

Obsidian jolts awake to find himself staring upward at the patterns of light cast by their fish tank in their room. He feels utterly exhausted and there's a sharp pain lancing across his temples. A hand raised to rub at his forehead finds something small and slick, faceted like…a jewel? What the in the name of Inari?

_Dream,_ a voice whispers softly in his mind. It sounds familiar…_Dream, young master, and fear not the path of Dreaming. Through the Void one can find Truth in all its forms, if one knows how to ask and look. So Dream, and ask, and look. Learn. For knowledge, as they say, is power. You will need that power before summer draws to a close._

As oblivion claims him for the third time that night, he thinks he feels a cool hand brushing his hair from his forehead.

——

"Our spy says that the two have successfully bonded with the first key, milord."

"Excellent. I tell you, it's a win-win situation for me, Shkatha. If they don't succeed I have my revenge against that damned Whiteout and her brood. If they do succeed…well, if they do the three worlds will never be the same." A cold laugh. "Oh, yes, I do indeed enjoy these Games I play. Tell our informant to keep watching."

"Yes, milord. Right away, milord."

——

The first week after the Solstice finishes and is replaced by the second, that starts out as a clear, sunny day. Kohaku walks over pavement on one of her habitual think-paths, the trails she takes when she's trying to work out a problem or somesuch in her head.

When a flash of snowy white zips past her nose, however, she removes her head from the clouds and blinks up at the tall woman who had just thrown the white thing past her. Turning her head, Kohaku finds that a ghost has been struck by the white—which turns out to be an elaborately inked piece of paper.

"I tell you, ever since my daughter disappeared these damn ghosts have been poking their dratted noses everywhere," growls the woman under her breath as she points at the ghost and says one sharp word. A faint shriek later the ghost is gone, along with the writing on the paper fluttering to the ground. It is only then that the woman notices the dumbfounded ookami girl standing with her mouth hanging open. "Oopsie."

"Never saw a ghost get sent to the Styx that way before," Kohaku tells the air in a conversational tone as she starts to walk off. She pauses again when a playful breeze happens to bring the woman's scent past her nose. _Hey, she smells like…_"Uh, forgive me if I'm being rude, but are you Ms. Uotani?"

"Depends on who's asking," comes the curt reply.

"I'm a friend of your daughter Zephyr—eek!" The wolf youkai takes a step backward when the woman's face goes from wary to hopeful and her shoulder is caught in a steel grip.

"Do you know where my daughter is?"

_Oh, hellfires! No one's told her yet!_ Giving her brain a good kick to inspire her creativity, Kohaku finds a plausible lie tripping off her tongue. "Yeah, actually. She went on an inter-school fieldtrip last week to another island, I think. They'll be gone for at least another week and there's some pretty bad reception out there so she might not have been able to call you. It was a kinda last-minute thing without a lot of warning. I didn't even know about it until I got some notes from my classmates."

"Why do I not believe you?" the woman queries, her coppery eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"'Cause you're a parent who hasn't heard from their kid in a week?" Kohaku offers, not wanting to find out if that paper-stuff can affect her as easily as the ghost. The hand is removed, Ms. Uotani chuckling weakly as she puts a couple feet of distance between them, restoring personal space.

"That might be it. If you can get ahold of Zephyr for me, that would be wonderful."

"Sure thing, Ms. Uotani. Oh, hey, she'll probably ask how her kitten's doing." This little bit of 'personal' information was easy to guess, since the burgundy shirt the woman wears is covered in cat hair and the scent of young feline.

"Kizi-chan is doing fine, although she misses her 'mom'," replies the platinum blonde, flicking her waist-long braid back over her shoulder. "Thank you for letting me know, miss…?"

"I'm Kohaku, Kohaku Piers. Pleased to meetcha."

"Likewise. Have a good day, Piers-chan."

"You, too, ma'am." And the wolf jogs off towards home, eager to get to a place where she can perform her new task without attracting too much attention. Behind her, the tall human woman pulls a round pendant from beneath her shirt and critically eyes the color, which wavers between pearly white and smoky gray.

"Truths and half-truths. Just what I'd expect from a youkai." Copper eyes follow the bouncing chocolate ponytail going around a corner. "But what is a wolf doing in the middle of Tokyo?"

——

Ivory is in the middle of a substantial breakfast when a young neko-youkai comes trotting up with another male pacing behind him with a pleasantly empty smile on his face. It almost seems like the male's attention is taken up with something else far beyond his physical self. The conversation around them of what the day's activities would be—repairing water-pipes, smoothing out the new quarters for the just-mated couple from Squad Twenty-one, the upcoming hunting trip, etc—quiets around her.

"'Scuse me, Ivory-chan, but this one's got a message for ya," the neko, named Sprite, tells her before trotting off to resume his duties outside. The wolf gives her a courteous bow before awareness fills the golden eyes.

"Ah, my apologies, I was speaking to my star-singer of a cousin," he tells her cheerily. "I have a message for you via her."

"Ookay…"

"Let me see if I remember her exact wording." A slender finger is tapped against a dimpled chin. "Oh, yes. It was 'call your mother, she's having fits'. Endquote. Also, your kitten is doing well and the current cover story is that you are on a field-trip of some sort for another week. Jya ne, little moon-fur." And he strolls right back out of the Lair again while Ivory's mind remains frozen.

"Oh…_shit_."

"Yes, _yes_ mom I'm fine, you can stop yelling now! I said I was sorry a bajillion times already! I forgot to call! Ow! Yes, yes! No. Yes."

"What's she doing, boss-sama?" Obsidian queries under his breath to his teacher, watching as his sister makes interesting faces while using Aislin's communication mirror like a cell-phone, using numerous reassurances and apologies in a vain attempt to soothe the human woman's temper.

"She's giving her mother an apology-call, winsome kit. The day you snatched Ivory back here to the Makai, you neglected to give our chibi-Yoko a chance to warn her mother that she'd be going off helter-skelter with you."

"Oopsie."

"I promise I'm learning a whole lot, there have not been any attempts on my life—" _Not serious ones, anyway._ "—I am not trying drugs, they're feeding me to the gills, and I swear on my life I will call again every single day. All right?" A drooping of her shoulders. "Aw, Mom, do you hafta ground me _that_ long when I get back? It's not entirely my fault…" A long sigh. "All right, Mom. All right. Yes, I'm practicing that too. There's a lot of that kind of activity around here. Okay. Okay. Love you too, Mom. Bye."

The com-pact is clicked shut with a sigh of relief. "I take it that went relatively well," the koorime woman states to a reluctant grin.

"I'm only grounded for two months when I get back, so I guess you could say that."

The black renard beside the koorime rubs the jewel stuck to his forehead. "Sorry, sister, I didn't mean to get you in trouble with your human dam."

Zephyr shifts back into her kitsune form with a shrug. "Things happen, brother. Two months grounding is worth it since I got to meet you. So, has anyone figured out the rest of the curse-keys, yet?"

Aislin replies with a calm, "Yes, actually. Hiei and Yoko are off researching them in the Library Cavern at the moment." She sits beside her pupil and swipes a strawberry from a bowl by the silk-clad knee. "The eternally blooming flower is the Eien no Yuri, the Eternity Lily. The 'link' is the Blood-star Ruby, the eye is the Agate Eye, and the Light is the Sunstone." The fruit disappears in two bites, the green top set into another bowl being used for that exact purpose. "The odd thing is," she continues while licking her fingertips clean, "is that all of these stones were reportedly once part of the same creature, that dragon that watched the worlds be created. At least if you know the older legends."

"Really?" chirp both youngsters in fascination. The koorime nods, stealing another strawberry.

"Yes. The Lily and the Eye were supposed to be the dragon's real eyes, the Blood-star its heart, and the Sunstone its soul." An upward quirk of coral-pink lips. "Which would make it very interesting indeed if the legends are true. Higurashi would be playing a very dangerous Game…" She trails off, turquoise staring into nothingness.

"Why is that?" Obsidian asks, yanking her attention back to the conversation. He's answered with a sly smile and a pale finger being held to those lips.

"Sore wa himitsu desu."

Both kits facefault at the reply, righting themselves with sweatdrops by their heads. Of all the times for their teacher to turn secretive. Ivory just shakes her head before resuming the interrupted topic. "So do we know where the rest of the stones are?"

The laughing eyes shimmer into sorrow as once again Aislin gazes into thin air. "Well, I know where _one_ of them is hidden…"

———————————————————————————————————

Ryu-Hiruiseki: Dragon's Tear

Sakura: cherry blossoms (although anyone who does not already know this term cannot call themselves an 'otaku')

Jya ne: casual good-bye. Along the lines of 'see you later'

Sore wa himitsu desu: that's a secret.

Ooh, the plot thickens. Bad me, another cliff-hanger. I should really stop doing these. n,.,n-♥

Starling: Is that possible?

Um, prob'ly not. n,.,n!

Shiku: Do you even want to bother?

Not really. Imagining the outrage of my readers is too funny.

—

In other news, Life has conspired against me yet again. Because I was broke and couldn't afford to continue in sculpture class, and so withdrew, and because I totally bombed beginning Chem (how the hell do people come up with stuff like that? It's so confusing!), I am now one of the poor 'academically dismissed' people from my JC. Thus, if I want to get my tail back in, I have to pass a 3 cred course this summer with a 'C' or better. Which means no Judo, which I've been looking forward to since my sister got me interested. Yeah. Creative Writing 4B is going to be boring, I can tell already. Thank Inari it's only until July.

Good news? I've got a job at Albertson's, a semi-local grocery store. No more inhaling dog hair, w00t.

Also, by the time a number of you read this, I will have hit the highly overrated birthday number twenty-one. Seriously, it's so fricken' pointless. I don't drink, and I don't waste my money gambling (I waste it on more entertaining things like brain-rotting anime), the two big things that become legal now. My mom wants the family to go to Reno to celebrate, but it's not shaping up too good. If I do go, think I'd look too weird with my nose buried in manga in some hotshot casino?


	12. Chapter 11: Visit with the Fallen

Yes, I know I'm posting this early, but I'm feeling generous 'cause today is my birthday! Which means: BONUS CHAPPIE! _—throws lots of confetti—_ Aaaaand that about does it for my birthday enthusiasm. So far all I've gotten is a bunch of hugs, one card and a store-bought cake. Whoopie. Enjoy the chappie!

**Magus784:** Oooh, so very, very close with that guess! It does involve a dragon. And the twins. But that's all I'm telling! n,.,n And I'll keep the Kuno-speak down to a minimum. Hard enough talking like Shakespeare in plays and the like when you're following a script. Pain in the ass when you're making it up as you go.

**Silverwing013:** It has to be a secret because you're supposed to keep reading to find out what it is, that's why. And yes, poor Kohaku. No fluffy-fur for her.

**DevilDucky1304:** Whee, a new reviewer! I never have enough of you people! Do you have a suggestion for the fourth story's title?

I'm also putting in responses to Wonderful Journey reviews just cause I feel like it. n,.,n♥

**Silverwing: **You get two acknowledgements in one chappie. Huzzah! And another huzzah and a cookie for being the first to review WJ!

**Luna's Lady Love:** o.O ooh, a new reviewer! Haven't gotten one of those for a while! Yay! n,.,n♪ I will forgive you for not reading the stories these characters came from if you review once for one of them. Doesn't matter which, I'm not picky.

—————————————————————————

Three people walk up the dirt road towards a low building roofed in red terra cotta tiles and flanked by expanses of lawn filled with statuary and blocks of stone. One is a slender woman just under five feet in height, dressed in a long, light-blue wool dress despite the heat of the day. Her hip-length, snowy locks are held back in a French braid, wine-hued strips by her ears dangling free.

The second is a young woman about five foot five with silver hair left loose, dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a violet t-shirt with a Latin phrase, 'Faber est quisque fortuna suae' written in silver across the front. Her ruby eyes are half-hidden behind violet hippie-style sunglasses, but are busy taking in her surroundings.

The last is a young man only an inch or two taller than the girl, with hair so black it shows blue highlights under the bright sun, his amethyst eyes hidden behind blue hippie shades that match his sapphire t-shirt over black jeans and sneakers. His hair has been tied back with a sapphire ribbon to keep it out of his face. His shirt says 'Appearances can be deceiving' in white.

"Boss-sama, where are we?" asks the girl in Japanese, her voice low.

It takes a moment for the smaller woman to respond in an equally low voice, "We're in southern France, Zephyr, and that is the Church of the Redemption just ahead."

The young man tugs his shades down to blink over them at the quaint building at the end of the road. "But I thought we were here for the Lily."

"We are." The conversation lapses into silence until the trio reaches the small gate in the filigree iron fence. "Stay here, please. This is something I'd like to do alone."

"Okay," comes the uncertain reply from two throats as their leader enters the quiet churchyard and begins to pick her way around the tombstones, her goal apparently a dark green bush near the center of the left-hand side. The world around them is quiet except for the sound of birdsong and the faint crunch of feet on grass, what with this place being several miles from the nearest village, and then Aislin reaches the bush.

She kneels down about a foot away, her fingers trailing over the simple marble headstone with an equally simple epitaph rendered barely-readable by time. "'And with the grace of God go I'," she reads aloud, easily translating the European words after she'd spent the last twenty years learning nine human dialects. "You always did know how to stay on Koenma's good side, Yuuki."

Her fingers drop away from the 'warmth' of the stone, hands coming to rest on her knees. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Yuuki? Nearly two and a half centuries, if I recall correctly what year this is. I know you can't really hear me; you've probably reincarnated a few times over and forgotten everything about the years you spent working for the toddler and that frustrating moral code of yours."

Zephyr and Obsidian, in his guise of Haru, watch their teacher kneel and start talking too softly for even their keen hearing to pick up in this silence, a wistful half-smile making her turquoise eyes mist over with remembrances. "What's she doing, brother?"

"If I remember what she told us a long time ago about some of her adventures," Obsidian says slowly, "I'd say she was paying respects to a long-gone opponent. This is the Church of the Redemption, right?" A nod from his companion. "Well, don't you remember the stories she used to tell about the man named Yuuki Miyami, you-know-who's first Detective?"

"Ohhhhh."

"You'd laugh to see me now, you annoying human," Aislin chuckles in self-deprecation, her eyes misting further, this time with tears. "After all the crap I put you through I ended up turning myself in because of love. I miss the old days, Anthony," she adds quietly, using the fallen Detective's real name for once, instead of the one she'd known him by. "They were so much simpler than these times. Back then it was just steal, drive you crazy, and steal some more. Now it's go to school, obey the terms of my parole, save two of my band from a vengeance curse while keeping your latest successor busy chasing his tail at the Lair." A soft laugh. "You'd be proud of him though, so very, very proud."

An approaching life-energy makes her look up in time to see a young man dressed as a monk nod politely to the twins she'd left at the gate before stopping a few feet away from her. "Pardonner moi, mademoiselle, quoi es te faisant?" His tone is polite interest, and she can't sense anything on him that would indicate that he is other than what he appears: a monk.

(("Just paying my respects to someone I've hear stories about for a very long time,")) the koorime replies in a quiet voice, blinking away the mists of the past.

Blue eyes flick to the tombstone and read the name and date, lighting in understanding. (("Ah, so you've heard stories about this strange hero?")) he questions cheerfully, tucking his hands in his robe sleeves. (("Quite an interesting legend, isn't it?"))

(("You might say that,")) she answers with a faint quirk to her lips. _Considering I'm the _cause_ of that silly legend…_

(("Do you mind if I talk with your siblings while you're talking to Barbarac, then?")) The monk tilts a head of short raven hair towards the two still standing by the gate, watching him warily. (("We get so few guests here these days and I'd like to hear some of the more recent news."))

(("They're actually my students, not my siblings, but if you can get them to talk to you, be my guest. I'm afraid they don't understand a word of French, though."))

(("I do, too!")) comes the indignant shout from Obsidian, Zephyr clapping her hand over his mouth with an embarrassed grimace.

"Baka! Sore wa _ky­ōkai_ desu!" she hisses at him while Aislin and the monk chuckle.

(("I stand corrected: Haru knows French. His sister Zephyr doesn't speak a word of it.")) With another laugh and a bow of the head the monk goes over to chat with the young foxes, Obsidian acting as the translator while Aislin turns her attention back to the tombstone etched with the name Anthony Barbarac and the dates 1780–1812.

"His name's Yusuke, and he's as brash as you ever were, you stubborn prick," she murmurs, resuming her train of thought and that far-away expression. "Only you never had the stick up your ass about fighting being the sole way of life like he does. Except for the difference in moral code—if he has one, I've yet to see evidence of it, though he's certainly got pride and an _honor_ code—and that crazy sense of humor he has, I'd swear he was you."

One hand slides from her lap to press her fingertips to the ground, her youki flowing into the soil as a kind of sonar to find what she's come for. It had been in her possession for a century or more before she'd laid it in this man's long-gone coffin; some trace of her energy should still remain. "I'm sorry for disturbing your shell's slumber even so little as I am," she murmurs as the rose-bush's roots twine around that glimmer of 'alike' that shines behind her eyes and slowly shifts it to the surface, the koorime picking up a deep blue stone carved into the shape of a water-lily and its pad; the Eternity Lily. "I know I left this for you, but I'm afraid the two youngsters I mentioned need it far more than you could."

A sad smile as she rises, dusting off her knees and giving both bush and stone a soft pat, the carving vanishing into the pocket-space in her dress sleeve. "They're good children despite their pasts, Anthony," she whispers as her goodbye. "If circumstances had been different…if things change the way I think they will…one day they might end up playing the 'good-guys' like you and Yusuke have."

With that, she bows with deep respect to the grave and offers a faint smile to the rose-bush suddenly unfurling deep sapphire blue double-blooms, then walks slowly back to the gate where the monk is chatting genially with her pupils.

"Come on, you two, we've got a fair walk back and we should get started," she tells the twins in that distant, distracted voice as the monk notices the bush and gapes. (("A pleasant day, sir monk."))

(("A-and you, miss,")) he answers back, still staring in dumbfounded amazement at the bush that hadn't bloomed for nearly fifty years.

Wordlessly, the two foxes fall into step with their mentor and they are several hundred feet down the dirt road and less than fifty from the portal when Zephyr speaks up. "Aislin-sama, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, chibi-Yoko," Aislin replies, still wearing that far-away look. "What were you and the monk talking about?"

Obsidian gives her a sad look. "He said that the church and the surrounding area's been bought by some big-shot American company since the lease ran out in January. It's going to be turned into a resort."

Aislin stops dead in her tracks, the grass around her abruptly coated in frost. "It's…what?"

"It's going to be turned into a resort, Aislin-sama. They break ground next month."

——

Later that evening, it's Hiei that takes up the position of contract-speaker instead of Aislin in the Crystal Chamber, the Eien no Yuri having taken the place of the Ryu no Hiruiseki in the middle of the casting circle. Zephyr, once more in her form of Ivory, looks around as though expecting the koorime to appear from thin air as is her wont.

"Hey, Jaganshi-san, where's Aislin-sama?"

A flicker of interest in those focused garnet eyes. "She's taking care of some arrangement, she said. No doubt she'll be finished by morning." His eyes turn to the stone flower set on the floor—the Tear has been restored to its pedestal in the Treasure Hall—and take on an edge of sharp temper. (!("Oi,")!) he snaps in that strange language. (!("Wake up, you blasted spirit.")!)

Blue fire blooms in the heart of the lily, taking the vague shape of a trim female. The vibe the two in the circle are picking up is one of high annoyance. (!("And hello to you, too, you three-eyed prick. What do _you_ want?")!)

A jerk of his chin at the two gaping between he and the little gem-soul. (!("These two want a contract. You don't have to do anything but bind with them and the Dragon's Tear. They don't have to do anything but bind with you. Those are the terms.")!)

Again the feeling of their very souls being weighed and judged fills the kitsune, and as before, vanishes when the little spirit nods reluctantly. (!("Very well. I agree to the set terms. But no tricks!")!)

Ivory gives her what the vixen hopes is a reassuring smile. "If you have doubts you can talk to the spirit of the Tear. It already said yes."

(!("I can see that, child. You _do_ bear its mark in a rather obvious place.")!)

The impatient clearing of Hiei's throat brings all three back to the matter at hand, and it is with mild reluctance that the two foxes slice their left palms with the crystal knives and press them to the top of the lily-pad. They're getting tired of bleeding. The tiny spirit taps her diminutive foot as the fire apparition intones the sealing contract. (!("Spirit of the Eternal Lily, you are hereby entered into a lifetime contract with Obsidian Avalon and Ivory Zephyr Avalon-Uotani. There are no deeds to be done by either party save the soul-link between you three and the Dragon's Tear which will form on its own. You have heard and accepted these terms as have they. So witnessed, so declared. It is done.")!)

This time, there is no brilliant flash. All that happens is that the character for 'eternity' appears above the jewel in their foreheads, ticklishly drawn in glittering blue.

"That was much more subtle than the Tear's." Ivory's tone is conversational as she looks up at the ceiling.

(!("That show-off always has to go for the dramatic,")!) grumps the Lily-spirit. (!("Since you don't need me for anything else, I'm going back to sleep. Good-night.")!) And the blue fire disappears. Obsidian turns to Hiei, curious.

"What _is_ that language you, Aislin, and the spirits keep using, Jaganshi-san?"

A sideways glance is given to him when Hiei strides past with the Lily, heading for the Treasure Hall. "It's called the Old Tongue, foxling. It's what the worlds used to speak when they were young. The human wizards used to use it, a long time ago." A smirk. "Now go to bed. You've got another easy day of training ahead of you."

Both foxes groan and slump their shoulders, shooting dirty looks at the fire apparition's back. Ivory sums it up quite neatly; "You're an evil, evil person, Jaganshi-san."

"So glad _somebody_ thinks so," is the frustrated grumble as Hiei disappears out of the room.

——

_This time when Ivory awakens in the Void, she is very much alone by the Moon Pool, dressed in little more than her hair and some scarves. "Erk!"_

_"Oh, calm down," a tart voice tells her as a very beautiful woman appears standing on the surface of the water. Elegant blue tattoos scroll all over the otherwise-bare form, her hair cropped short and spiked in one of the current fashions. "It's going to a be girls' conversation only so clothes are completely unnecessary. I only supplied some because of that foolish notion of 'modesty' you mortals usually have."_

_Ivory stares, then jumps a little when Zephyr appears beside her in much the same (non)outfit as she and looking none too pleased about it. "For the love of little apples, you call these _clothes_?" With a wave of her hand Zephyr now sits more comfortably in her usual kimono, glaring over at the figure on the water. "Lily-san, with all due respect, little bits of gauze are _not_ my opinion of proper garb, thank you very much."_

_"Whatever," snaps the stranger, tapping her foot. The sound produced isn't a faint splash—there's not even a ripple—but instead a harder sound like wood floor. "I don't care. I came for talk, that's it."_

_"So?" grumps Zephyr, giving the stone-spirit as good as she's getting in glares. "Talk, then."_

_"Are all you humans this arrogant?" explodes the Lily-soul, throwing up her arms and beginning to pace on the water. It stills sounds like she's walking over wood floor. "For the love of the stone-god, you're a pompous little thing!"_

_Ivory blinks when a miffed finger is leveled at the pacing female. "_You_ are not the one who's going to be going through Aislin-san's training come dawn, Lily-san, and our time in the Void does not mean replenished strength. I want some _real_ sleep tonight."_

_"What's all that dratted shouting about?" inquires Tear-soul, popping into the air above the middle of the pool._

_"KYAA!" Thwack! The spirit falls back, stunned from the deliverance of a rock to its head courtesy of a panting Ivory, suddenly holding a billowy length of cloth to her chest. The other two females blink at her while the Tear-soul groans and sits up, holding its head._

_"Geez, Self, jumpy much?"_

_"I don't think I've ever seen a mortal move that fast before."_

_"What in heaven's glory just happened?"_

_Zephyr snickers. "You spooked Ivory, that's what happened. Your head okay?"_

_A half-hearted glare is sent the way of a blushing Ivory while Lily-soul helps Tear-soul onto its' feet. "I didn't think things would actually _hurt_ in the Void." It rubs its head with a wince. "Noted for future reference."_

_"Your reflexes always did suck, you flamboyant ass."_

_"Look who's talking, you hot-tempered she-devil."_

_The two maidens look at each other, eyebrows lifted. These two sound a lot like Hiei and Aislin. As the conversation degenerates into a shouting match about faults real and perceived, cinnamon and ruby eyes are rolled and the two soul-halves silently excuse themselves from their Voidscape and head for actual sleep._

——

"Zephyr! Stop acting like Hiei's going to bite you and actually try to hit him! Obsidian, this is a fight, not a stage performance! Quit dancing around like a ninny!" Without even turning, "Good morning, Yusuke. Sleep well?"

"Not really," admits the Spirit Detective as he rubs at gritty eyes. "I'm startin' to feel a little guilty about stayin' here without even tryin' to do my job."

"Mhm, honor _is_ a pain in the ass sometimes, isn't it?" Aislin offers in distracted sympathy, her attention claimed by the trio sweeping around the clearing in front of the Lair. "Zephyr, you're human, not dense! Use that stick like it's an extension of your arm and not a piece of dead wood!"

"Incoming!" comes the warning shout as said stick is knocked from uncertain hands and sent spinning towards the observers. Yusuke catches it without even thinking about it and starts to automatically twirl it through his fingers as a habit left-over from Genkai's training. Zephyr runs over, breathless, takes the stick back, and runs back into the practice fight with Hiei. Aislin tsks.

"They did better when they thought they were fighting for their lives." A sideways tilt to that snowy head. "Then again, Ivory was in control at that point. That's probably the difference; her head remembers training with her brother, but this human body of hers doesn't."

A large explosion engulfs the entire clearing in dust and rains down rocks and more dirt on the slow and unwary. Yusuke lowers his arms in time to hear a bashful "Oops" and finds that Aislin has erected a youki-barrier around them to protect them from the flying debris. While the dust settles, the ice apparition rests her forehead on her fingertips and sighs.

"Winsome kit, what have I told you about using Cherry Bombs by the Lair?"

Yusuke peers through the fading clouds to find a sheepish Obsidian standing next to a good-sized crater in which lies Hiei, the breath knocked out of him by the force of the explosion and looking none too pleased as he coughs air back into his lungs. From the renard's hand dangles several small, dark fruits that look like nothing more than ripe Bing cherries.

Several yards away is Zephyr standing comfortably behind her own shield, produced by a fuda on light brown paper and glimmering lavender tinted rose-pink. After she's certain that there aren't any more decent-sized pebbles coming down, the human-bodied girl drops said shield with a calm word that still sizzles in the air and starts dusting herself off.

"Gomenasai, Aislin-sama. It was kinda a gut instinct."

Their teacher shakes her head slowly. "Gut instincts are fine, Obsidian, but you need to remember that stunts like that attract attention and are bothersome to repair." A glance at the recovering Hiei visibly holding himself back from delivering the desired flattening to a blushing fox-boy. "Not to mention rather hazardous to your health."

Obsidian slowly turns his head to find Hiei glaring at him, turns pale, starts to edge away from the hole, then takes off at a dead run. Hiei sprints off after him, snarling threats and trailing dust and bits of soil and rock while Obsidian shouts apologies and flees for his life. "Carelessness is going to kill him one of these days," Aislin sighs as she gives Yusuke a soulful look.

He smirks at her and jerks his thumb towards the sound of death-threats mixing with apologies. "Only if Hiei doesn't beat carelessness to him."

"Point. Porcupine head, stop chasing the poor kit before you make his heart burst! We still have training to do before you kill him!" While Hiei grudgingly gives up his thoughts of revenge on the young fox for the moment, Yusuke scratches at the back of his head in thought.

"Oi. Stop me if'm wrong, but ain't Ivory th' one who swiped that Inari statue-thingie a while ago?"

"Took you a while to figure that one out," mutters Hiei, the spike-haired male busy delivering a legal smackdown on the offending Obsidian in the guise of training. Aislin gives her soul-brother a sharp look while she responds.

"Yes, Ivory did take the statuette, but be fair, Yusuke. It was stolen from my sleeping quarters and she wasn't entirely 'there' for the robbery by any stretch of the imagination. To be truthful, Ivory could barely connect with the body at that point. It took a Dream and a bit of help for that division in soul to be repaired." A careless shrug of a wool-clad shoulder. "Besides, likely as not I would have stolen it back eventually, myself. It _is_ mine."

The Spirit Detective shrugs, pushing back hair that hasn't seen any hair care products like gel for a good week out of his face yet again. Truth be told, the fact that the two criminals highest on his 'wanted' list are right under his nose doesn't really bother him. Even if one is an fugitive from Mid Security and the other is the one who woke him outta a good night's sleep.

No. It's the fact that he hasn't gotten into a single scrap worth mentioning in the last week—give or take a day or two—that's starting to get him riled. He's very like Hiei in that respect; neither are creatures of little action, never have been, never will be. The _need_ to get into some kind of brawl is starting to wear away at Yusuke's temper and his common sense and gets him to wondering if anyone besides Hiei, Aislin, or Yoko could provide a much-desired distraction.

Come to think of it…where _is_ that silver rogue, anyway?

A flash of sunlight on pale hair makes the demon-descended male's lips quirk up. Speak of the devil, here he comes. But the weary resignation in the by-now familiar golden eyes wipes the smile from Yusuke's face and the welcoming smile from Aislin's.

"Sun-risen, aisuhana, Yusuke," the kitsune mumbles, bypassing the human male for a quick hug from the wary koorime.

"What happened to 'good morning'?" Yusuke wants to know. Yoko just rolls his eyes, having given up on politeness for the moment.

"There's no such thing as a 'good' morning, Yusuke."

"Koi's not much of a morning person," Aislin confides in a gentle tone, mildly amused by this thing which hasn't changed in the five-plus centuries she's known him. "So the usual greeting doesn't really apply. Thus, he's worked out his own method in which he acknowledges that the sun is up, but no one in their right mind can expect him to be happy about being up with it."

"Be that as it may, I have some troubling news about our situation," Yoko breaks in, the weary resignation in his body language and expression growing a bit deeper.

Aislin stiffens. "Like what, Yoko?"

Yusuke suppresses a wince. Even he knows that when these two drop the various love-names they have for each other things are serious. As in, on par with the Kikai Barrier dropping in the middle of an S-class youkai get-together. The silver fox runs a hand through his long hair with a sigh.

"Good news: the Ruby is still here in the Makai. Bad news: the Sunstone and the Eye aren't."

"Where are they?" Aislin prompts, a chill icing her spine as she guesses where at least one of the five is.

Taking a deep breath, Yoko answers. "The Sunstone's in the Human World. The Eye currently is being kept in King Enma's Vault in Spirit World."

——

Yoko finds Aislin later as the sun sets up on the Tower, the thin spire of rock created long ago by some heights-loving stone-shaper long before even _he_ had found this place, rising above the treetops and a few stories into the bloody sky above the Lair.

He hesitantly brushes his fingers against that turned-away cheek, finding it warmer than usual beneath his touch. "Beloved?"

"I don't want to do this," comes the quiet comment, at a volume just loud enough to be heard over the wind, that still form never moving. "King Enma is far beyond my power levels and the security he has on that place now frightens me, Yoko."

Knowing what that admittance of fear must have cost his head-strong mate, Yoko edges closer and offers her his side to lean against, expression giving nothing away but his own love for her. She gazes at him for a long breath before accepting the gesture, the taller male coming closer so that she doesn't have to vacate her seat to enable him to tuck her against the length of his side. Together they watch the orange disk that is Makai's sun slide beneath the horizon in silence, speaking only after the demonic stars begin to peer around the night's gathering clouds.

"We could always try asking the toddler if we could borrow or trade for the Eye," Yoko suggests, already knowing that it would be a futile effort. Aislin echoes the thought a moment later in that uncanny way of hers that is neither telepathy or empathy.

"Cha, right," she says in disgust. "That binky-sucking stubborn fool would only do that if we offered the cubs up on a silver platter for him. And you know I prefer to keep the silver for serving up enemies' heads."

Yoko firmly ignores the attempt to lighten the situation. "You and I are the ones who performed most of the upgrades on the current security system, beloved. It shouldn't be too difficult a task to slip around the defenses like the old days."

"Koi, I don't know about you, but I designed my parts of the plans so that even _I_ couldn't break in without tripping _something_."

The bandit known as the Silver Thief can't really argue with that—he did the exact same thing, though he did it out of a perverse desire to make sure that _his_ success against the Vault's defenses would be the _only_ one people would be able to talk about after he'd turned himself in. It's no fun if someone copies your hard-won tricks, after all.

They sigh in unison, paying no attention to the clouds thickening at a rapid pace above them. "A combined effort wouldn't be much better, then," he glooms, fingers beginning to run through her hair in a habitual gesture. Somewhere in their relationship, she'd become something of a touch-stone for him, capable of soothing away stress with the slightest contact. If he was still the same old womanizer he'd been before he'd met this spunky bit of winter he'd be appalled at the degree to which he depends on someone besides himself. But he's not, so he allows himself to be soothed by this sign of intimacy.

"You foxes," a familiar voice growls behind them. Startled, they turn to find Hiei clinging very unhappily to the thin railing that is all that saves a climber from a long fall. Aislin finds her lips starting to curve upwards as she is reminded once again of just how much her soul-brother despises this particular kind of height. High, with very little purchase and no hope of a safe landing below. He much prefers cliffs and trees; they either provide handholds or are far more solid than this spire.

"Us foxes what?" the koorime prompts in an expectant tone. Garnet eyes burn in her direction.

"You foxes," Hiei grits out, enunciating carefully, "have a damned peculiar desire for all these complicated 'dances' of yours. But every single time, you give yourself a gods-be-damned _loophole_ in case something goes wrong." He turns around and starts making his careful way back to solid ground, never mind that he could simply leap from this height and make a ten-point landing. Phobias aren't supposed to be logical and this one is no exception.

Aislin supposes it has something to do with him getting tossed off the Isle of Koorime when he was less than a day old, yet still aware and able to remember every second of that terrifying fall. "Now if you're finished sulking, the detective has challenged Gambit to a sparring match and I want to see the arrogant fool get his ass handed to him."

The two stare after him for several long moments, long enough for him to have almost disappeared around the curve of the spiral staircase. He turns his head back. "WELL?"

"Ano…I left a pathway through the air-ducts," Aislin admits in a breathy voice, her dulled turquoise eyes beginning to sparkle again. "I'd forgotten about that."

"I made copies of all the necessary key-cards," Yoko realizes, smacking his fist lightly into his other hand. "Now where did I leave those…?"

"Feh!" comes the disgusted exclamation from around the turn. "Foxes!"

Aislin gets up and trots after her soul-brother, rapidly catching up and walking with him down the curving stairs that seem to have been carved for smaller feet than even theirs. "Hey, porcupine head?"

"What?" grits the male, still clinging to the banister for dear life.

"Who were you hoping to see lose? You didn't specify."

A wry twisting of the fire apparition's lips. "Hn. You really need to ask?"

Her laughter rings out into the stormy air as Yoko quickens his own pace to catch up. "Heh, I suppose not." At the very edge of his outermost shields, Hiei can feel a deep swirl of gratitude coloring that space pale, sparkling blue. Despite his nerves of the still-formidable height, Hiei gives his ivory-skinned soul-sister one of his patented smug half-smirks in silent reply.

He knew she'd get around to remembering _something_ along those lines.

All she'd needed was a good kick in the ass to dislodge her head.

"Hiei!" Wham! "You self-righteous prick! I _heard_ that!" The fire apparition openly grins at her now, just daring her to try that head-swat again now that he's reached his comfort zone on this blasted tower-thing. He'd let her hear that last thought on purpose, just to ignite her temper. Indignant Aislin accepts the dare and lunges for him, diving off the stairs when he gracefully leaps the banister in his usual short-cut.

Yoko just shakes that elegant head of his at their antics while keeping to the stairs, resigned to it after all these long years. He still hopes that one day they'll grow out of it, but by now it's an ingrained behavior so he's not holding his breath. As the silver fox listens to the exchange of cheery insults and threats being hurled back and forth below him by the two elementals, he has to admit to himself that he'd actually miss their fights.

Sort of.

———————————————————————————–

Baka! Sore wa ky­ōkai desu: Stupid! This is a church!

'Faber est quisque fortuna suae': Everyone crafts his own destiny.

Pardonner moi, mademoiselle, quoi es te faisant: Excuse me, miss, what are you doing? (I think, and he says it very politely.)


	13. Chapter 12: Moonlight and Wolf Song

Hiya, all! Sorry this is so late; my new computer is still giving me problems--it's been officially dubbed the new Kuwabara, if that tells you anything. It's not even letting me have normal access to my mail, so I know I missed a couple of new reviews for others stories that I meant to put here. For those of you who have reviewed lately, no, you are not forgotten, and your reviews are greatly appreciated. Yes, even flames are welcome, because they show that whoever is reading cares enough to try and correct me. I don't make any promises that I'll listen, but they are appreciated. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy the chapter!

**Arano Honou:** Arigatou, I love ice-cream! As birthdays go, mine anyway, it was about how it usually went—boring. I got a yummy chocolate cake and a rose out of it, though, as well as some pocket money, so it wasn't all bad. Now if only Dragonseer and Slade3 had put in appearances like they said they would_…—grumbles—_

**Fate's Child Destiny's Friend:** I'm on Westcoast time. And I know who was first, but this is fanfiction, and I didn't find out about Kiyoko until after I'd finished Winter's Rose. Since I didn't feel like altering a major part of that story-line, Yuuki Miyami stayed the first Reikai Tantei in my tales and Kiyoko got relegated to this century's first Detective—who just happens to still be alive. Besides, Yuuki's too cool to get rid of. Yay for bad-ass French noblemen!

**Peeka-chan:** n,.,n! Now, now, first of all it's Yuuki, not Yugi. My Frenchman did not walk around with red-and-yellow spiky hair, thank you ever so. _—enjoys poke at the anime which was more adult in manga format—_ Second, Aislin has a much more lasting solution in mind.

**Magus784:** Come on. Who has Hiei been waiting five years to see properly whomped into the dirt? Aislin's not going to fight him again; Koenma promised that her aborted sparring match with Yusuke was the last one she'd ever have with a Tantei. Besides, Gambit's pretty strong by himself, plus he's got a whole hell of a lot of cunning. Not to mention Yusuke is a cocky little bastard and he knows it. But wow, Yuuki, your grave chapter is really generating a reaction. Two new reviewers for one chapter.

Yuuki: No one can resist the charms of a martyred hero. We're darned appealing.

Aislin: And you wonder why I thrashed you so often.

**Darknesspirals: **(WJ review) Then you'll love the fourth story. The stars are Luke and Craig. (SA review #1) I hope to address that problem in Season Tale 4, since Craig and Luke have a similar problem. My 16th was kinda a flop, but my seventeenth was a kick. I had a whole bunch of friends by then and we all had a pool party/barbecue. (SA review #2) I love my characters, even the ones that aren't technically mine. It's rarely difficult to follow the stories they lay down for me when I'm not looking—though my boys are making an exception for a change. _—Luke and Craig smile innocently— _But I'm not telling about Yusuke and Yuuki's similarities. You'll find out. And thanks, I really do enjoy working with Hiei; he's so comfortable to work with after…_—checks date for Fox's Mischief—_ dang, only just shy of two years. But I've covered a whole lot more time than that in my fictions, I suppose that's why it feels longer. He's such a complex person and his history via manga/anime is just so…so…fascinating, yet so incomplete. He's easy to write about once you get him to cooperate.

**Silverwing013: **You're about to find out the second half to your review…

**CrimsonSnowflake: **Now why would I think it's corny? I think it's spiffy, actually. Reminds me of both Hiei and Aislin! n,.,n And there's nothing wrong with maniacal laughter now and again, it keeps us amused.

Disclaimer: Ah, what the hell, haven't done this for a while. No, still own nothing of Yu Yu Hakusho but the merchandise and my own nifty characters.

——————————————————————————————

Alarms howl out a belated warning of an intruder through the pastel-pink halls of Reikai's Palace, guards boiling out of nowhere like a nest of disturbed ants, all of them rushing towards the same place: the Vault. Koenma is standing before the doors when most of them pour into the over-sized hall before it, in his teenaged form and chewing on his blue binky with a dangerously blank expression.

The ogres slow, come to a stop, and then slowly begin to back away at the sight. It's quite clear that their prince is in a mood that none of them want to deal with, least of all when the huge doors to the Vault are hanging half-off their hinges and frost has been laid down on the floor in a purposeful design.

_'Sorry, toddler, but we need to borrow the Agate Eye for a little while. Swear to Inari that if we can bring it back we will, but there's no guarantee about that. See you soon! Signed, Winter Rose and Silver Thief.'_ And around the crystalline words there is the symbol that has gone unused for almost twenty years: a stylized rose set into an equally-stylized snowflake.

"Gods damn it, Moors," Koenma growls, "You could have just _asked_."

——

Meanwhile, several miles away on the edge of the cliff between the Palace and the River Styx, two figures sit in quiet thought for a moment. In the hands of the smaller is what looks to be a real eye the size of a baseball with a brassy pupil that stares blankly up at her.

"You know something, koi? Maybe we _should_ have tried asking first." A wicked smile up at her life-mate. "Oh, well! Add another few decades to our sentences and let's get back to the Lair!"

"Admit it, aisuhana," her companion rumbles playfully as they step into open air and the portal that will lead them home, "you enjoyed robbing Koenma blind just as much as I did."

"Sore wa himitsu desu!" singsongs the Winter Rose gaily just as the portal closes behind them to the sound of the Silver Thief's laughter.

——

The soft clicking of bootheels on pavement is the only thing that interrupts the faints songs of cicadas in the evening light, the tall woman walking briskly down the sidewalk and off onto a broad dirt path that winds leisurely through the trees. With a slight frown marring her pretty features Kumiko Uotani checks her watch for the time, the frown deepening the tiniest bit.

She resumes walking, hands in her jeans pockets—and around her usual stock of fuda safely contained in the inner-pocket holster she had designed to hold the rectangles of paper. Hopefully her contact wouldn't mind her being a smidgen late; hell, she should be used to the magic-wielder's tendency to be slightly behind schedule since they've worked together before.

Rushing footsteps fill her ears and the silver-haired woman turns in time to see a familiar chocolate-green-purple ponytail streak past her, attached to that wolf youkai who had informed Kumiko about her daughter's activities.

"Oh, hailstones, I'm late! Genkai's gonna kill me!" The unhappy wail drifts back to the mildly startled human woman, who, after a few moments of stunned silence, resumes walking up the path and the way the wolf-girl had run. One graceful eyebrow arches upward as memory replays.

_What on Earth had that girl been wearing?_

Hurried chatter fills the air as Kumiko silently ascends the last steps, the wolf-girl bowing repeatedly to a small, old woman who looks none too pleased at her young guest. The wolf's choice of clothing is now visible as ripped, bleached jeans covered in paint splatter, a James Dean-style black leather jacket, and a white t-shirt in similar mistreatment as the jeans but without the rips. A small creature that looks like a cross between a fox and a squirrel with abnormally long ears sits at the girl's feet, engrossed in smoothing that long, fluffy tail back into order.

"—and we couldn't interrupt practice because we've already missed two since Cassie's been sick and we have a gig this weekend at a new place and the tickets are already sold out so we just HAVE to practice and I'm so sorry Genkai it's that stupid bus' fault and—"

"Kohaku, shut up." The wolf snaps her mouth shut as the irritated older woman glares up at her. "Now take a good, deep breath." Obeying, Kohaku does so, then holds it when he lungs can't take in anymore air. "Now let it out slowly and let me remind you that I don't give a damn. I'm used to people being late, right, Uotani?"

The tall woman shrugs carelessly and walks up the path to stand in front of the elderly psychic. Kohaku's breath is not being let out slowly—she'd lost control over exhalation and had tried to suck it back in again at the appearance of the new guest, resulting in a hard coughing fit. "As you say, Genkai. You know I think the temple's gotten smaller?"

Genkai gives her a snort of amusement. "Only because you haven't been here since you were a pup like this girl here. Looks like you hit a couple of growth-spurts."

"You might say that," agrees the fuda-wielder calmly as she looks over the 'pup' once more. "So. You are a wolf youkai then. I would appreciate you telling me where my daughter really is, please."

Edging behind Genkai as if thinking that would save her, Kohaku gives the formidable woman a weak smile, echoed by the creature now perched on her shoulder. "Erm, she's in the Makai…"

Blink. Blink. A mild look down at uncaring Genkai. "And how, exactly, did she get there?"

"Her brother snuck her through a portal when no one was looking…"

"I don't have a son."

Genkai rolls her eyes in her usual show of distaste at these hard-headed kids and at Kohaku's oversimplified explanation. "No, but her past life's mother does. According to Obsidian, there were actually five in the litter which included himself and your daughter." A wry, ironic smile. "For the past seventeen years or so Zephyr has been human. However, the other half of her soul remained a fox and dormant. According to the progress reports I've been getting from their teacher, that is no longer the case. You now have a very different daughter than the one you thought you knew, Uotani."

Kumiko buries her face in one hand, sighing heavily. "I am totally lost, Genkai, as usual per your explanations. Who is Obsidian, what again about my daughter, why is she in Makai, and who the hells is their teacher?"

"Genkai-san," a sweet voice inserts itself neatly into the conversation and Kumiko blinks again, finding a petite, mint-haired young woman standing just a few feet away with her hands tucked into her sky-blue kimono. Garnet eyes flicker over her in appraisal before the girl continues. "Would you or our guests like some refreshments?"

"Oh, Yukina," breathes the wolf-girl in relief, contriving to look pathetic and hopeful at the same time—yet again echoed by that strange animal, "if you have any of those strawberry pastry-thingies from last time and anything resembling carbonated sugar I'd love you forever and ever!"

The other girl laughs softly in amusement at her friend. "I take it you just finished one of your band practices and ran all the way here from your house-portal?"

"Bingo!"

Another laugh as the sweet girl turns to go, looking back over her shoulder. "And jasmine tea for you, Genkai-san, correct?"

"Right, Yukina." Both blue-green eyebrows rise in polite interest at Kumiko, who just shakes her head and jams her hands deeper into her pockets, feeling the small crystal lying at the bottom of the left hum faintly. _A youkai, too, probably an apparition given the power level and vibes._

"Nothing for me, thanks anyway."

"We'll be in the living room, Yukina-san."

"Hai." Genkai turns and strides off, trailed by Kohaku and Kumiko, one humming under her breath and the other looking around to see what changes, if any, have been made since her last visit. The aged psychic leads her guests into the decent-sized room paneled with whitewashed wood that is the usual meeting place for Genkai and her guests and takes a seat on one of several flat cushions.

The old woman takes a pack of cigarettes from her khaki pants' pocket, taking out one and lighting it up before fixing the seated Kumiko with one of her hard stares. "Kohaku can probably fill you in on the circumstances leading up to your daughter's 'trip'. I'll fill in what she missed." A smirk over at the edgy wolf youkai, who keeps anticipating an attack of fuda at any moment; the vibe this woman gives off is scarier than anything Hiei's ever produced—at least while around her. "Don't forget to breathe, puppy."

"Oh, um, right. Okay." Kohaku takes a deep breath, the movement causing her hair to shift and pick up more light in the usual glitter dusting. Oddly enough, even the strange little beastie has a light coating of glitter sparkling in the brassy, rusty-colored coat. "Just before the summer Solstice there was a breakout in Reikai prison, and the escapee was a young kitsune named Obsidian Avalon. He managed to make it to this city and started hunting around, seeing if he could find the reincarnation of his sister, who died the night he'd been arrested. He doesn't have much of a record; just a few charges of minor and grand theft, and the sentence should have ended a long time ago if you ask me."

"No one did, Kohaku," Genkai rasps in irritation.

Kohaku gives Genkai a quick grin. "Anyway, after about a week he found out that Zephyr had been having strange dreams, which were really memories from her last life, and figured she was his sister. Bloody ecstatic, he was. So just a couple days before Solstice he up and kidnapped-with-consent your daughter, and hauled tail back to the Thieves' Lair in Makai along with my boyfriend Hiei."

"Now _his_ name I know. The Jaganshi's your boyfriend?" Kumiko's tone clearly conveys her disbelief that the cold, cruel, merciless killer she'd heard about would actually have a friend, let alone a romantic interest.

"Yeah, long story, that. Anyway, she's been over there since, and not only is fluff-head there with them, but so are Aislin and Kurama."

"And they are?"

Genkai takes up the story thread. "You've heard about the Winter Rose and Silver Thief, I imagine." A nod confirms the half-guess. "Aislin is the Rose, Kurama is the Silver Thief." Kumiko's eyes widen. "Aislin is still in her original body, but thanks to one of Koenma's hunters Kurama had to flee in spirit-form and ended up possessing a human fetus, one that hadn't received a soul yet. Koenma had a fit when he found out about that; something about still displacing the one who'd been slated for that body but it's already been done. The boy turns eighteen sometime this year, I think. Those are Obsidian and Ivory's teachers. Ivory," she adds, interrupting an obvious question, "is Zephyr's last life and no one has figured out how she's managed to pull of a half-Kurama. Obviously the cub isn't telling, either."

There's a brief pause in the conversation when Yukina brings in a tray with a plate of strawberry tarts, a pot of tea and two cups, and a can of lemon-lime soda covered in condensation. She sets the second cup in front of Kumiko with one of her innocent smiles. "Just in case you change your mind," is her sweet-voiced comment before she vanishes back out again, leaving Kohaku to dig into her first helping of tart while Genkai sips at the fragrant tea in her cup. The small beast is now seated elegantly on the low table, making a smaller strawberry tart disappear off the side of his person's plate.

"Now, like I said before, Aislin's been sending me progress reports," Genkai says in her crow-harsh voice, setting the exquisite porcelain container down. "Apparently there's a curse that was laid on the two cubs by one of Aislin's enemies; they're halfway through finding the five keys that'll cancel the damn thing." The old psychic smirks again. "According to her, your girl's got some speed and no little skill with fuda, but her hand-to-hand's worth practically nothing. Obsidian isn't in much better shape, but he's been sitting in a cell for a century so he's at least got some excuse."

Kumiko addresses Genkai in a very crisp tone, sitting up ramrod straight. "My daughter wasn't trained to fight because she was to handle non-corporeal beings only. We're ghost-catchers, not Spirit Detectives."

The brown-haired girl inhaling her food suddenly dissolves into a second fit of coughing, smacking her chest to dislodge the lump that caught somewhere in her throat while her face turns interesting shades of white and red. "Um, actually…"

"That's exactly the kind of training Aislin is currently putting both of them through on top of the thief-lessons," Genkai informs her ex-student dryly.

"Oh. But I don't want Zephyr to become a Spirit Detective," protests Kumiko. "She'd have to fight physical beings capable of turning her into mush in a mouse-heartbeat. I had to go through that and I hated it; I wanted to spare her the same problems."

"Right now," comes the raspy counter, "that girl and the boy have a lot more trouble to deal with than plain fighting. Two of those keys remain and they're going to be much harder to find than the others. All three of the other keys have had to be stolen, though one of them was stolen and stashed a long time ago and another had been stolen back just a little before that. Aislin hasn't given me the details of what the physical forms of the keys are or the explanation would be less confusing."

"Koenma's having a fit 'cause they stole the Agate Eye from his father's Vault," supplies Kohaku, going back to eating, already on her third tart. "I'll bet the rest are jewels, too."

An approving nod from Genkai. "That's not bad reasoning, puppy." She turns back to Kumiko, her expression expectant. "Is that what you came to ask me about? Your daughter?"

"Yes, but this isn't what I was expected. Zephyr a kitsune, a thief-in-training, a Tantei-in-training, off in the Makai doing who knows what…" The human woman slumps, her face once again finding refuge in one ringless hand. "Grounded for two months isn't nearly enough punishment. She knows damn well she should have told me the truth instead of lying to me." A pause. "Well, not telling the truth, anyway."

"On the upside, I expect you'll be seeing her again shortly; one of the last keys is here in Ningenkai and I expect they'll let your daughter slip her leash long enough for some kind of visit before dashing off again." Genkai looks as though she's going to continue, but at that moment a sleek head pokes around the doorframe, honey-amber eyes widening at bit at the small gathering.

"Oh, sorry, Genkai-san. Dad sent me in to let you know there's a couple of dregs trying to move in on the north-east quadrant. Should we smoke 'em?" He edges a little further into the room, one broad hand pushing back a bit of his short-cropped mahogany hair.

"Do what you want," is Genkai's uncaring reply. "Uotani, this is Takumi, one of the Forest's new residents. Takumi, this is Kumiko Uotani and Kohaku Piers. The furball is Kohaku's Spirit Beast, Nao."

"Nyah," comments Nao in a dry tone from his resumed perch on Kohaku's shoulder. His gold eyes are assessing, raking the male wolf from eartip to toes and apparently liking what he sees, for the Spirit Beast settles like a living stole around his person's throat and drops into a light nap.

Both youngsters study each other for a moment, testing the scents on the air with the ease of practice. Finally, Kohaku grins. "Ookami?"

"Ookami," Takumi agrees cheerfully, letting his slightly-oversized ears lift out of his hair. Kohaku winks at him, her peridot eyes flashing bronze for a moment when her own canine ears make a showing. "What clan?"

"I'm a from a joining of Blood Moon and Blade-arm, how about you?"

Delight and surprise make those amber eyes glow. "You're a cousin, then! I'm from Crescent-Blade, a sister-clan to yours! Only," and here the good humor vanishes, "there's just five of us left. Some old enemy's wiped the rest of our clan out."

"Well, that sucks," Kohaku says, rising to her feet and looking over at Genkai. "Sorry to delay that reiki lesson you wanted to give me even more, but you know family comes first, Genkai-san."

"Get going, kid." A dismissive wave of a wrinkled hand. "My feelings aren't hurt."

The two wolves disappear out the door, talking in low, excited voices as they head off. Genkai turns back to her remaining guest and takes a moment to give her a good look-over in proper light.

She remembers how the girl looked nearly twenty years ago at an energetic, early twenty-something, petite, slender, and as ready to deliver a joke's punch-line as she was a banishment. That's changed. Her earlier comment had been true; Kumiko used to be just shy of five foot three and now she stands close to six. The energy that used to pour off of her is muted, more focused, and vibrating with darker emotional tones due to all the unpleasant news dumped on her all at once. That lightning-fast smile is gone as well, though Genkai isn't quite certain if that's just due to circumstance or if it got buried by time's passing.

_The woman's tastes haven't changed much, though_, Genkai thinks to herself in mild amusement. _Still sticks to jeans, uniform blouses, and heeled boots. Wonder if she still wears the knives in the boot-soles like she used to._ Kumiko had appeared on her doorstep one day, asking if she'd needed any ghosts or restless spirits cleaned out as a kind of house-cleaning service: Genkai had informed her tartly that she needed no help getting slackers like that out of _her_ home, thank you very much.

That had gotten them started in on techniques and styles, which had led to a brief sparring session, and had ended with Kumiko coming back for weekly visits to train on Saturday evenings after work at a gym. Genkai had wanted to train her because the silly chit had kept getting herself into scrapes with that strong sixth-sense of hers, and had tried to banish youkai several times by mistake, coming to the temple with black eyes and lots of bruises as well as the occasional broken bone.

The girl Kumiko'd been back then had hated getting into those fights, because the endings were usually the same. She'd whip out some of her other fuda, get whacked around a few times, get the damned paper to stick, and had usually ended up imploding the offending youkai on the spot. That was what had gotten her infamous in the Makai, at least in the circles that Aislin had circulated in, and the reason she'd eventually stopped ghost-hunting when she married a mundane human and had had a baby.

Kumiko was never one to desire fame. She'd just wanted to be able to do what she did well, quietly, without causing such a huge ruckus and endangering her family. Genkai had heard through the grapevine that Kumiko's husband had left her when Zephyr was just thirteen, all because he had gotten tired of the supernatural stuff his wife kept having to deal with, leaving the two of them alone with each other.

That was when Kumiko had moved back here from Okinawa and had promised to come visit sometime before the decade ended, when she wasn't so busy running her new bookshop and helping to reduce the ghost population that had built up to ridiculous levels in her absence.

Finally Genkai gives a harsh bark of laughter and sips again at her tea. "So. How are you keeping up with your old skills?"

A slow smile grows on Kumiko's face. "Why, Genkai, that sounded just like a sparring-challenge!"

——

(("So when'd you and your family get here?")) Kohaku inquires as she and Takumi lope through the darkness cloaking the Forest with familiar ease; one of Genkai's favorite exercises for Kohaku is laps around the Forest at set circumferences around the temple, and Takumi has learned the game-trails for survival. Nao, awoken from his nap, bounds above them in the treetops in true Hiei-style.

(("Oh, just a few hours before that cute girl and her friend disappeared,")) is the casual reply. (("Haru's a nice guy, went hunting with us for our first meal in a few days.")) A wicked smile gone unseen in the darkness. (("Suzume seems to have a bit of a crush on him, sweet really."))

(("Has Genkai been keeping you updated on that situation?"))

Takumi makes a sound of affirmation. (("I even think we've got what they're looking for."))

Kohaku stops in mid-stride, Takumi jogging for several more feet before he notices that his pretty cousin is no longer running beside him. (("Are you fricken _serious_?")) she gasps in a strangled voice, her ponytail doing its best to bush out from the force of her surprise.

Takumi just sighs, jogs back over, grabs her hand, and starts pulling her down the trail to the rendezvous point with his family. (("One of the last missives sent to Genkai by messenger passed through a portion of our new territory and we intercepted it. It said that the keys to whatever curse is plaguing the Avalon twins are jewels linked by similar myths. It just so happens one of the heart-clan's family treasures is one such gem, the Sunstone."))

(("That's one of the clan's treasures? Woow…")) The Clan treasures, originating with the first-blood called the Blade clan, consist of four great items known in youkai legends. They are: the Lightning Sword, the Thunder Shield, the Rain Flute, and the Sunstone, the last collected by the originator of the Blade clan, Lairo Twin-Blade just before he went to his final resting. (("Ancestor Twin-Blade had some strong connections to get _that_ bit of pretty."))

Her cousin gives her another noise of agreement and lets go her hand, picking up the pace now that they're so close to the meeting point. (("Just be prepared to meet my father. He's a bit paranoid these days."))

(("I don't know about that, brother,")) chuckles someone from the shadows. A young grey-brindle male separates himself from the darkness and strides to meet them, eyes the color of sunflowers appraising as he looks over their 'guest'. (("She's too pretty to be dangerous, ne?"))

(("Don't get any ideas, you girl-crazy idiot,")) Takumi scolds in affection. (("Not only is she from our sister-clan the Blade-arms, but she's also taken."))

(("I'll bet a good growl in his direction…"))

(("By the Jaganshi."))

Takara sighs, giving up his daydream of a date with the lovely female glaring daggers at him as a lost cause, grinning lopsidedly at both his brother and cousin. (("Ah, well, so much for that, then. Did Genkai give us the all-clear, brother mine?"))

(("She said she doesn't care."))

(("Oh, good. The dregs are swaggering around like they own the place. Let's tell Dad and get some proper hunting done; I'm starving."))

(("Right. Cousin Kohaku, if you will start us off?")) Impish Kohaku gives her bowing cousin one of her patented grins and throws her head back, letting the drawn-out notes of the hunting song pour from her throat. Takumi is a beat behind her, his own molten voice rising in harmony with hers. Takara's silvery baritone comes in just as Kohaku takes a quick breath and resumes, keeping the hunting song unbroken.

From nearly a mile away, a deeper voice calls back, the howl crackling through the air with all the strength of bottled lightning. A sweet contralto sings out in harmony, while first Takumi then Takara take their own fortifying breaths and continue. Last to spiral out of the darkness several miles distant is an angelic soprano that calls through the trees in shorter lengths than the others.

The hunt-song continues for another minute or two before the deeper voice changes pitch and tempo, signaling the start of the chase. Letting their last breaths die away the three gathered on the game-trail take off in careful sprints, noses in the air to best track the fools who dared think they could control a place that wolves call home.

As the haunting melody dies away, two people standing in the temple courtyard open their eyes with smiles on their faces. "I'd forgotten the way demon wolves sing," Genkai rasps quietly, tucking her fists at the small of her back. "Mortal wolves don't do their melodies any justice."

Kumiko nods a silent assent, still trying to commit that ghostly tune to memory even as it slips away. "One of the only things I liked about going to Makai was that I'd get a chance to hear them in the forests or when they were the acting police for some small town," the human woman sighs, remembering the few times she'd somehow managed to end up in that other world—usually because some youkai or other would think that she'd be afraid and forget to fight back. They'd been corrected of their misconceptions with alacrity and an inked piece of paper.

Shaking her head in a vain effort to clear away all the years cluttering up her memory, Genkai turns back to her younger companion. "Now, where were we?"

——

The light beneath the trees in the forest surrounding the Lair is filtered at best, even with the fact that it's a rising full moon off on the horizon, but that doesn't bother the two forms slipping silently among the large trunks on their way to the Emerald Throne. It's the night after Aislin and Yoko had stolen the Agate Eye from beneath Koenma's nose and the binding ceremony had gone like the others: the twins had been presented to the definitely-male little spirit and had been accepted under the same terms as the Tear and the Lily. Eye hadn't bothered to take them into the Void last night so both youngsters are fresh and rested despite a long day's training. The small jewel set above their eyes gleams, the new character for 'sight' drawn just beneath it in glittering copper, a match to the 'eternity' character above the stone.

Tonight is the event that Obsidian had been hoping to show his sister's reincarnation: the faerie gather-meet, held monthly less than two miles away from the Thieves' Lair. He'd reminded her ahead of time that courtesy dictates they remain silent and in the background during the revelry and discussions, else they'd be challenged and pixed but good!

That is, only if one of the Fair Folk didn't acknowledge and invite them into the circle. Then talking is fine but must be kept to polite boundaries.

Obsidian and Ivory arrive just moments ahead of several iridescent androgynous pixies who go about and 'light the lamps', bringing faerie fire to burn in the ring of mushrooms circling the sunken boulder covered in the moss that gives the landmark its name. The foxes take seats on a fallen log in silence, well clear of the circle but still in sight of it, to be joined a few minutes later by a Yoko brimming with anticipation.

More and more fae gather in the moonbeams pouring through a hole in the canopy, putting the Throne in a natural, luminescent spot-light, shimmering all the colors of dreams and nightmares; this isn't the yearly gathering on All Hallows, so both Bright and Dark court Folk are able to attend.

Some music begins to flow from the musicians arranged at the base of the Throne, but it's more of a sound-check than anything else and the trio of foxes essentially ignores it, waiting for the main event to begin. However, they're in for a bit of a surprise, first.

Several fauns come racing into the small clearing, cheering something along the lines of "They're coming, they're coming!"

The three watchers exchange glances. Who's coming? Well, whoever it is has the gathered fae in an uproar of excitement, from the tiny pixies all the way to the single phuka observing from the shadows with glowing red eyes.

And in a swirl of platinum dust and flower petals, they appear. One of them is recognizable, but only because she wears a gown familiar to the silver renard sitting in darkness. The other is recognized only because of the company he keeps. The female is long-limbed and graceful as a cat as she silently steps into the moonlight on her tiny, slippered feet. Her long, translucent hair is unbound and shimmers down to the ground, trailing along with her gown's frothy skirt, with matching eyelashes framing husky-blue eyes. Those eyes are unique even among demon-kin, the pale vibrant blue limned in cerulean with a cat's slit pupils gracing their centers. Most wondrous of all, a set of iridescent dragonfly wings rest against her back.

The male is equally attention-grabbing, though harder to see until he emerges into the bright moonlight. His face is shaped like a pixie's; high cheekbones and pointed chin, with vibrant, entrancing eyes the color of scarlet roses. His hair, black as the darkest sin, hangs down over his body in long, thin strands—some of those strands are streaked in a white that glimmers in the touch of the moon. His outfit is black water-silk, tucked-in shirt and trousers to her snowy, gauzy gown that bares her legs to the knee but trails behind to mingle with her hair. From his shoulderblades emerge a pair of butterfly wings, black except for a peacock-blue stripe edging each wing.

Yoko sits there, entranced while the two kits just stare. They've never seen these two fae before tonight, despite having attended several gatherings in the past. Who are they?

Yoko knows. Oh yes, he knows very well indeed, though he never expected the honor of getting to see...

"Welcome, lord and lady," chorus the gathered faerie as they clear a path to the Throne, where waits the Forest King and his wife; a devastatingly beautiful pair of Sidhe who have been here as long as the forest has existed.

"Indeed, welcome," says the King in a glad voice, rising with his arms outstretched. "Welcome, child of the moors, and welcome, child of the shadows. It's been many seasons since you have graced us with your presence."

"My apologies, your majesty," the female replies in an angelic voice, as she and her companion drop into a courtly bow or curtsey, depending on the gender. An expert flick of the skirts resettles them as she smiles again at the ruler of this place. "But Life and her sister Destiny have been leading us a tangled chase for the past decade-and-a-half."

"And more for a pair I have not seen in much longer." The Queen speaks in a melodic voice, silver as the moonlight, gazing in the direction of the silent watchers. "Come, children of balance, and be welcome in the circle. You as well, King of Thieves. It's been some seasons since you've also been here."

"As your fair majesty wishes," intones Yoko, rising to his feet before he, too, executes an elegant bow with hand over heart. Ivory and Obsidian also rise, the vixen sticking to a bow like her brother due to her lack of skirts. A curtsey just doesn't have the same effect without them after all. A few long strides brings all three into the circle of moonbeams shining down and to the sides of the two unexpected guests.

Yoko, with one of his infamous wicked smiles, takes the white female's hand and bows over it, lips grazing her knuckles in a sensual fashion. "Aisuhana, my beloved, you look positively stunning tonight."

Obsidian's ears perk as he and his sister register that if this is indeed their teacher Aislin, then the other must be…Two pairs of eyes gaze wonderingly over at Hiei, the male's cheeks shading into pink at the attention. He's even taller in this form than in his regular one, topping five-foot-ten in his obviously-bare feet. "Oooh," both chorus.

"Spiffy, isn't he?" Aislin comments mildly, batting her life-mate's hand away with a reproving smile. "Porcupine head does try so hard to keep it secret that he has faerie blood in him, but it was bound to be discovered sooner or later."

"Hn!" But the effect of Hiei's annoyed glare is ruined by the two gazing at him with sparkling, enthusiastic eyes.

A repeated chorus of "Oooh!" brings a smattering of laughter from the gathered fair and deepens the color in Hiei's cheeks, but goes no farther. Instead, the meeting progresses as usual with input from those who've come, including some from Yoko and later on, Ikazuchi, representing the thieves and their needs. Obsidian and Ivory continue to gaze intently at Hiei in fascination, visibly restraining the urge to go over and investigate his new form. The only things that save Hiei from them number two: because it would be inexcusably rude, and because Hiei would kill them for it sure as the day-time sky is red.

———————————————————————————————

Heh, finally got around to showing Hiei off in his faerie form! Bwaha! He's such a bishie, even if he won't admit it.

Hiei: HN!

Kohaku: My bishie! _—glomps onto Hiei with a smile—_ You're gonna show me that form sooner or later, right?

Hiei: _—blushing but still trying to be stoic—_ HN!

Phuka: a Celtic creature of the Dark Courts. Usually takes the form of a black horse or a goat with red eyes and,similar toits cousin the banshee, warns of death for whoever sees it.


	14. Chapter 13: Remembrance

**Silverwing013: **Yeah, we do, but it's _loving_ mocking, really.

Hiei: Hn.

But yes, once a thief, always a thief, and Aislin isn't about to let the church get bulldozed without a fight of some sort.

**Seeyu:** Lookie! Another new reviewer! I like you people! _—enjoys watching Hiei exercise self-restraint, then laughs when Kohaku glomps him on the other side—_

Kohaku: MY bishie! Grrr!

—_snicker—_ Sorry about the long wait, my regulars can tell you that I normally don't take so long to post new chapters. _—long-suffering sigh—_ I blame the DSL we're using; cable was never so pissy.

**KuramaIsFine:** No, but I'm considering it. I have this spiffy nude of Aislin that shows off all of the markings she'd have if she stayed in fox-Oracle form all the time, but no access to a scanner, anyroad. I'm trying to draw our resident bad-ass and Kohaku in band finery, too, but they aren't cooperating either. I wish Shiku would hurry up and get off vacation.

**Hieinokoishi:** Hey, another first-time reviewer! Spiffy! n,n And thanks for the sugar—

Aislin: Wheeee!

—we'll enjoy it as it deserves to be enjoyed. As quickly as possible for maximum sugar-rush. I'll try to get more chapters up sooner, but it's hard when you're stuck relying on library computers for access to Isn't Hiei a kick when he's showing his humorous side?

Hiei: I don't _have_ a sense of humor!

Aislin: How can you say that with a straight face, Mr. I-helped-dye-the-entire-Reikai-Palace-pink?

Hiei: Practice. And that was more payback than anything else.

Yusuke: Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Hiei.

**CrimsonSnowflake: ** You're welcome, and I was just giving my opinion. The name is cool. And as for the fae, well, it varies. Sidhe are very tall, phuka/pooka are either horse-sized or goat-sized, depending on the type, fauns are fairly short, and I think you can guess how small the pixies and fairies are. Just pick up a good faerie book and it'll tell you about more kinds.

**LiliacSnow:** _—blinks—_ another new reviewer? Squee! That makes the third one for one chappie alone! New record for me, woot! Welcome, and thank you!

**Kitsune Kit:** Squee! _—glomps—_ I missed you! You haven't reviewed in ages! Welcome back! n,.,n-♥ All we need now are Jerry Unipeg and Suiyou to complete my original set of loyal reviewers all the way back from Fox's Mischief! I'm glad you liked SF, and yes, I have managed a half decent Xover of Ranma and YYH. Go, me.

Starling: Gobe!

Okay, someone has been playing too much Animal Crossing. I can't believe they took down your poor story! It must feel so unloved by the admins. I vote you put it back up just to annoy them.

Kohaku: MY bishie! _—but looks tempted—_

**Darknesspirals:** Well, I _did_ mention he has a fae form way back when in Winter's Rose. It's not his stripped-of-all-seals-etc. form, but it certainly is different and looks much better than all that green skin. Sneaky kajihenge has still managed to keep his true form hidden, though, drat the man.

Hiei: _—smug—_ Hn.

**Peeka-chan: **Heh, it's okay. It gave me a chance to poke at an anime more mangled than Cardcaptors, DB, and One Piece combined.

**Fate's Child:** Eh? Really? Damn, must've been tired to miss those. Point 'em out and I'll fix 'em, and thanks for the sharp eyes!

**Aisilin Kheldarson:** _—snicker— _Everyone likes your faerie form, Hiei.

Hiei: HN! Doesn't mean I'll be showing it off again.

**Hieinokioshi:** (Again n,.,n) Yes, trust me, she got the thing. _—Aislin is currently attempting to convince Hiei and Kohaku to help her dye the Palace bright neon green—_ I think Kurama went and hid in his garden or something. Congrats on your screen name, and yes, Season Tale #4 is _supposed_ to focus on Luke and Craig. Unfortunately, they aren't being very cooperative.

Hiei: And that is the _last_ time I show anyone that form, damn it!

Kohaku: T.T

Hiei: _—sigh—_ Okay. Maybe you, if you don't bug me about it.

Koahku: Whee! _—glomps him again—_

**DevilDucky1304:** Welcome! Wow, Hiei, if I'd known showing off your faerie form was all it took to get so many reviewers to respond, I'd have done it ages ago.

Hiei: HN!

Okay, everyone! I have good news! Since you've helped me reach a new record of twelve reviews (four of them new faces!) for one chapter, today has a bonus! An extra chappie! _—throws confetti while Starling and Drox spin noisemakers—_ Enjoy!

————————————————————————————

"Gambit-sensei," pipes one young leopard youkai from one Level up a few days later, while the fox-wolf pounds knowledge and fighting skill into their heads and bodies, "why are the Avalons so special? I don't think I've ever heard Aislin-sama, Yoko-sama, or Boss talk about anyone like they do those foxes." Far enough away to be out of hearing but still in view, Aislin and Hiei have begun hand-to-hand combat training 'those foxes' at a speed only they are capable of. Most of the 'class' can barely even see flickers of motion.

"You wanna know?" gruffs the old demon, jerking his head for his pupils to follow, "Then come on and I'll show you."

He leads this newest lot, barely here five years (a few weeks, by human terms) out of the immediate vicinity of the Lair, down paths long overgrown, to a place where bramble-thickets have run riot over the swampy landscape. It's nearly thirty miles from the caves these thieves call home, and a good hour since they left. No one knows why they're here, other than a lesson to be learned.

Gambit stands at the edge of the thicket for several long moments, gaze lost to memory as the tangles are replaced by tilled ground filled by growing vegetables: there stood the corn, there stood the bean-runners, there the lettuce, and so on. Lonely land is repopulated by ghosts out of Death's realm: a tall renard stands there in his patched salt-and-pepper fur, overseeing the weeding of strawberries over to the left, a silvery vixen standing not too far off, her mouth moving in silent conversation with one of the workers.

"Now don't you tell those kits about this place," he orders his pupils in his usual rough manner. "Th' bosses figure they'll find this place on their own one o' these days, and they'll tell 'em themselves then. 'Til then, you keep your traps shut; got it?"

"Aye, sir!" choruses from all throats.

"Good. Now clean out your lugs and listen, you dopes. This here was the Avalon farmstead, 'bout four hunnert years gone. Good family, proud, stubborn, not afraid to get their hands dirty; them and 'bout three other families came here to work and grow in peace." A faint smile at the thought of the horse-folk, the shadow-folk, and the tiger-kin that had worked alongside the foxes. "That spitfire Jai, he was one o' the best people I ever knew, on par with the pups who've led and lead us. Always willin' to lend a hand even when he didn't have one to spare no matter who asked 'im. He an' his mate Willowthorn were the leaders in this place, their little slice of Shangri La. That's what they called it."

_"Gambit! Come see the orchard! Our apples are coming in beautifully, the first basket's just been picked!" A slender arm waves from beneath the fruit-laden branches of one tree, sunlight dappling pale skin with abstract shapes. _

"Now, we at th' Lair protected the people here, 'cause they were the kind Aislin-sama takes a shine to when she meets 'em, and they made this place thrive through pure hard work." _A dozen small bodies tumble through the rows of his memory, their small voices piping excitedly to see him and the people who had always come with him._ "An' 'bout hunnert thirty years past, there were younglings here growin' along with the rest of the crops."

Several of the trainees shift, sensing where this story is going and not liking it in the least. But Gambit doesn't see them; his eyes are for the past and all that had been.

"Then one night when the youngest bunch had just turned twenty, the Dragon's Tear was stolen from our vaults. An' like fools, the whole lot o' us, save a skeleton crew to keep an eye on the rest o' the swag, went boilin' after the bastard who swiped it."

He can still remember that night as clear as crystal, though sometimes he wishes that Time would hurry and let it be buried under her softening dust.

_Anger. Rage. Shouts and warcries, the scent of blood spilled. The flash of the Dragon's Tear underneath the moonlight. It had been dark under the trees but he'd run as fast as his feet would go, confident in his knowledge of the surrounding area. _

_The robber had been running, too, but nowhere near as fast as a pissed Aislin-sama could go, and she'd caught up with the stupid shadow-apparition at the edge of the Forest, waiting for her crew to gather. But somehow he'd already passed the stone onto an accomplice, and her wait had been in vain._

_So she'd tortured the fool, making him spill every last one of the secrets he held about the robbery and who had taken the stone when he'd passed it, sending her fastest people out to hunt that doomed soul. And then the dying male had laughed when red fireworks turned the purple sky as crimson as day, suggesting that she get to the Avalon Farm in time to say her good-byes. _

_His head had gone rolling, Aislin-sama running as fast as she could in a desperate dash for the innocents she had watched over, knowing already it would be too late. Gambit had stayed long enough to hear the severed head breathe 'spiders' before going still, and then he too had gone running._

"Turns out the Tear had been a diversion, the shadow-youkai who'd taken it and the rest of his gang paid by spider demons to get us away from the Lair and here. He spilled his guts in more ways'n one in the end, but it was still too late. We returned to find everyone slaughtered, even the younglings."

_Small bodies scattered in front of the small storage shed that had held farming tools, larger bodies silent testimony of the efforts made to protect those pitiful sparks of hope. The spiders laughing, laughing, laughing as they wrecked the house and the land around it…_

"Those of us who were smart split an' left those damned spiders to Aislin-sama's cold mercy and the green rage of Yoko-sama and all the rest of the kitsune," Gambit tells his crew in a quiet voice. "For a year the spiders fought; turned this place into a foul cesspit, bred an' killed an' ate an' bred. We buried th' dead innocents in our own graveyard, an' in th' end we killed every last spider o' that cursed tribe. We mourned th' families lost, mourned 'em hard 'cause they were th' first real good that had come t' us in a long while. But 'cause we were so grievin', we didn't notice that th' two youngest o' Jai an' Willowthorn's brood weren't counted in th' dead. We figgered th' spiders ate 'em or somethin' and just wept harder."

_"I'm O'sidian an' she's my sister Iv'ry," a defiant voice told him from close to the ground. Two small kits stood there with courage and strength stiffening their spines and making their eyes glow. "We heard good stuff 'bout you guys. We wanna be t'eives like you."_

"When those two came waltzin' into the Lair one fall evenin' it was like a real miracle an' we vowed one an' all that since they did come back, they weren't gonna get put into a situation like that e'er again. They didn't remember a thing about that night; so we didn't remind 'em. We just trained 'em an' prayed that Fate would keep her paws offa 'em. Fat lot a good that prayin' did."

"Dunno, Gambit-sensei," the leopard who'd gotten them started on this lesson says in a doubtful voice. "Seems to me it worked just fine; they're back now, right?"

Approval replaces the melancholy in the old cinnamon eyes. "Well, lookie here. Finally usin' your brain, eh, Swiftpad? See if'n you can't put those new smarts o' yours to good use and try an' beat the rest o' us home." As the leopard groans and begins to run over all the possible routes in his head, a rough voice murmurs into his ear, pitched just so in order for him to be the sole receiver, "Thanks."

Gambit reflects on the piece of the story he'd left out on his trip back to the Lair—the other reason that the protection of the Thieves had been given to the farm—having decided a long time ago that it was none of his business to tell it. But that catastrophic night, Yoko-sama hadn't just lost valued friends. He'd lost a brother, an adopted sister, and nieces and nephews. Between that night until just before this Solstice, and not counting the time the twins had trained here, the Silver Thief had lived as the very last member of the Avalons.

————

Dawn comes clear and early, sky paling from night's dark purple to the familiar bloody hue, the wildlife in the Forest rousing with the sun to greet it as always. Up to greet it as well are the Avalon twins, restless after their dreams of the Void and the Truths they've been watching in their vision pool.

_Kohaku, sitting in Hiei's favorite tree at Genkai's temple and wearing one of his shirts, nose buried in the long sleeve on one arm with a sad look on her face. From her reddened eyes it's obvious she's been crying, and the dark circles are silent testament to a sleepless night. _

_Kuwabara, bearing the brunt of his friends' absences and taking on the dregs growing cocky in the continued truancy. Several bandages wrap his arms and chest, visible when sharp claws tear at his shirt to add more wounds. _

_Faces they barely remember from what seems another lifetime ago. Faces like theirs, scents like theirs, voices that sang gentle songs of love and comfort and played children's games with them. Shadows weeding strawberries, tigers mending buildings, horses that chatted as they dragged plows through rocky soil._

_A dragon that spun itself out into shimmering mist and dissipated, leaving behind a feeling of intense loss. _

Kumiko, Zephyr's mother, with a rueful half-smile on her face while she binds up her scratched arm on her bed, fuda scattered across the coverlet according to potency, type, and whether it is offensive or defensive. Half-grown Kizi-chan curled up napping in the woman's lap, her orange tabby sides rising and falling.

The approach of a familiar presence breaks them out of their reverie to discover that Yoko is standing just a few feet away with his familiar grin. "Well, my cubs, today's the day we take our punishment's like youkai," he chuckles. "Go get into your human clothes and get ready to face the music; we're heading back to Ningenkai."

"To get the jewel there?" Ivory questions eagerly, rising to her feet and a flick to send her braid down her back. Her brother also rises and they begin walking down the incline of the small mountain protecting the Lair, still watching Yoko expectantly.

"Aye, and no," comes the reply, Yoko staring up into the warming sky. "We're going to get the Sunstone if we can, but it's not at the top of our list at the moment. People need to see us; our human parents need to see us and Hiei and I need to report in to Koenma before he sends the entire Reikai Defense Force after us. And despite the fact that it will likely remain a simple task, all of us but Hiei have homework to catch up on."

The groan that greets this statement is the one voiced by school-going students everywhere when things like 'homework' are mentioned. Obsidian tilts his head as a thought occurs to him. "What about Aislin-sama?"

"Aisuhana will be meeting us in Ningenkai," assures the Silver Thief as they enter the main cavern, "but she has some business to attend to first. Getting the Blood-star Ruby, for starters, as well as a few errands she'd been putting off."

"But why didn't she take us with her?" asks Obsidian, sounding hurt.

Yoko's ears flatten to the sides. "Ah, let's see if I remember her aright," he sighs. "'Because I'm the only one she won't be eating'."

———

The relative silence of nature weighs on the branches of the ancient trees that a slender woman walks through, her snowy coloration standing out against the deep browns, greens, purples and reds that are the normal vegetative colors for this part of Demon World. The growing day is quite warm; Aislin has bundled up in defense, wearing her favorite heavy wool coat and pants as well as cotton leggings and turtleneck shirt.

She manages to work up enough 'heat' to keep herself from shivering, but it's still hard for her to keep her body temperature from rising. Most of that discomfort is ignored, however, as she looks upon trees that haven't filled her sight in centuries. And the thought of what lies ahead quickens her footsteps.

There. Burbling and rushing down a rocky face is what used to be her favorite meditation stream, still tumbling over an outcropping onto the flat slate below and swirling into a pool deeper than she is tall. And all of it fed from the glaciers north of here on this level of Makai.

With a happy sigh Aislin quickly strips down to nothing, relishing the icy water that brings sensation back to numbed toes after placing a shield over her garments to protect them from would-be robbers. It is with a content feeling of reminiscence that the mixed-blood takes her once-common place directly beneath the hardest part of the waterfall, letting that water pound her head and shoulders while she basks in the delicious 'heat'.

After a few moments she assumes the Lotus; feet resting atop her knees, hands resting palm up on her ankles, her fingers loosely curled as she lets herself fall into a meditative trance.

_"All others are prey to me, Whiteout, and shall remain so until the day I die."_ Turquoise eyes snap open at that intruding memory, the apparition shaking her head to dislodge it and again attempting to trance.

_"I'll make an exception for you for now, but don't push your luck. No matter how powerful you are, if you wear out your welcome I'll eat you like the rest."_

"Damn it, Threnody," mutters Aislin in annoyance, "I know I'm not supposed to come here often, but you could at least let me get some meditation done. I hardly get a chance to these days."

"Oi!" calls a perfectly solid voice from where she left her clothes, "oi, miss!" Rather irritated now, Aislin looks over to find a youkai of indeterminate species standing on the bank, his green face puckered in worry. "You'll catch your death of cold if you stay in there, miss! That's damn near ice water, that is!"

"I know."

Her calm, lucid response seems to startle him, or maybe it's the fact that the droplets reflecting off Aislin's head are drifting away as snowflakes that makes him take a step backwards. He stares at this vision of beauty sitting quite comfortably under freezing water with snowflakes scattering around her, turquoise eyes piercing the mist and his own personal masks.

"I'm trying to meditate, youngling, do be so kind and leave me to it."

"Ah, right. Sorry, ma'am."

Aislin sighs in irritation as she tries for the third time to meditate, this time memory sucking her into itself too fast for her to snap out of it, making her relieve the day that she'd effectively lost this place.

_Cheery singing brightened the air, the source a small female splashing in the deeper part of the pool and sending snowflakes scattering around her to melt back into sparkling droplets. No more than four centuries old, Aislin gamboled in the water in one of her rare occasions of play, relaxing after a hard day's thieving and banditry. Hiei was off on one of his own errands so she'd taken the opportunity to bathe in peace in the spring warmth._

_The melody pouring from her throat was a song just written but spreading like wildfire thanks to the recent fame of an upstart bandit calling himself the Silver Thief, and was as beautiful as her siren blood could make it. "Red roses, red roses, sweet petals and thorns. Your rich scent will beckon, but your weapons shall warn: 'Beauty is skin deep, beware still we say. For pretty is painful if not held the right way.' "_

_"Such a pretty little songbird," crooned a peculiar voice from the edge of the pool. Aislin had turned and froze, staring at the creature sitting on a dry rock with a frighteningly calm smile on her triangular face. "She looks so tasty, I think I'll eat her."_

_With a squeak, Aislin had called upon a newly-discovered ability; she'd dissolved into a cloud of snowflakes and had attempted to flee. But the swift falls had shoved her fragmented form beneath the pool's surface and back together, resulting in her coming up spluttering._

_"Nice try, little songbird," the female had said in that crooning tone, apparently trying to use the golden, oval eyes to fascinate Aislin into immobility. Instead, the ice-born apparition had scrambled from the water on the side opposite of the intruder and had just started yelling at the slightly-startled intruder. _

_"All right you can quit dragging it out! If you're gonna eat me, then eat me, but don't treat me like a dreg! I know you're stronger than me, you're probably faster than me, and you can take this territory any time you want! But I'll be _damned_ if I let you toy with me like I'm completely worthless!"_

_"Strong words for a little bird like you," said the female with a straight face. "What makes you think you're worth something?"_

_"I'm the Whiteout and Aisu. I've robbed some of the most powerful demons in Makai blind and a lot of humans. I partner with the Jaganshi and I've held this territory as mine for a century. I survived the fall from the Island of Koorime and I've gotten stronger than that clan dares to fear. And I can get stronger."_

_Five male youkai had burst into the clearing that contained the tiny waterfall and pool, weapons bared and gleaming. "There she is!" shouted one, pointing in the direction of the annoyed predator. "It's Threnody!"_

_"Do you mind?" both females had snapped at them, "We're conducting business!"_

_The flat-faced female had turned back to her quarry. "Very well, little bird, prove to me you're worth something. Kill these hunters and I'll let you live."_

_"With pleasure," Aislin had growled, advancing steadily on the new intruders on her turf, that familiar gesture of hers stretching her ice-blade in her hands. The other hunters had done their best to defend themselves, and they'd even gotten in a few good hits on their attacker, but they'd all fallen to the deadly length of ice that had flashed in the sunlight. _

_The koorime had crouched once again on her rock under the waterfall, letting herself 'warm up' in the frigid waters while licking at a deep slice along one arm. She continued to eye the stranger called Threnody, gazing sideways through blood-flecked lashes as the clawed hands had applauded._

_"Very nice, little koorime," approved the female. "Perhaps you're worth allowing to survive, after all. It'd be more interesting that way. How about I make you a deal?"_

_"What kind of deal?" Suspicion blazed in narrowed turquoise eyes. _

_"You give me this territory and I allow you 'visiting rights' and become your ally for six centuries. If, after that time, you become strong enough to defeat me in a battle, I'll relinquish my hold on this place and return it to you. However, you are obliged to come to me at the end of our contract, not I to you."_

_"And you'll eat me then if I'm not strong enough."_

_"All others are prey to me, Whiteout, and shall remain so until the day I die. I'll make an exception for you for now, but don't push your luck. No matter how powerful you are, if you wear out your welcome I'll eat you like the rest."_

Aislin unfolds herself from her Lotus and leaps effortlessly to the bank, drying herself and once more donning her heavy layers, damning the luck that would have her coming here in the middle of summer when Threnody would be strongest. No help for it, though, and with better luck that damned female wouldn't have bothered gaining much strength in the last half-millennia or so.

Hah. That's wishful thinking.

With a heavy sigh, the koorime steps clear of the misty drops flung by the waterfall and drops her shielding. Then unerringly turns her footsteps west and resumes walking.

—

Another ten minutes' travel brings her to a perfectly round clearing that she and Hiei had used as a sparring ring once upon a time; the thick trunks still bear scars from those sometimes-violent matches. Memory reminds her that there is a cave system just beyond it, but Aislin's eyes are for the glinting, silvery wires stretched across the space.

"A summoning circle? Threnody, that's a little dramatic, isn't it?" groans the snow-colored female as she studies the pattern laid out. The threads stretch out across the front of clearing's entrance, all vanishing beyond the far trees—presumably to the cave's opening.

Experimentally, one finger is stretched out, a retractable claw plucking the wire closest to her. A single delicate note reverberates along the string, comprehension lighting almond-shaped eyes. "A musical one, at that. Very dramatic, Threnody. Very dramatic indeed." A series of pops accompany her cracking of knuckles. "Let's see if I can't puzzle this out."

And the koorime drops into the lightest of trances, sending out her senses along those shining lengths, tasting, touching, listening. Ever so slowly the puzzle comes together, and without even opening her eyes Aislin reaches out to caress the web, drawing out a deceptively simple melody that hangs in the still air.

From past the clearing, that familiar voice croons the words set to the music shivering across the strings.

"Who plays the tune I taught to none,

Upon the threads I've laid?

To call me fair from my own lair

On this sweet summer's day?"

"Theatrical as ever, Daughter of the Serpent King, but you know very well who's come knocking at your door," Aislin snaps, ceasing her playing. "I tired of your Game the day you sprung it, and I've come to end it. Get out here, if you want to see if I'm still the edible little bird you remember."

"You certainly have the mouth you had back then," sighs the sweet contralto, as the threads vanish and a massive form moves beyond the trees. "And poor timing. You're a decade late."

Annoyed eyes are the only readable thing in Aislin's entire body when the naga slithers through the gap in the trunks beyond the clearing, her jeweled coils taking up the entire circle and spilling back the way she'd come, the humanoid torso still sitting as daintily upon the muscled length as six hundred years ago. The alien face with its flat beauty smiles with a lipless mouth, baring the back-folding fangs structured like any mortal cobra's. Such is how this child of Ouroboros comes to rest before the ice maiden in the sunlight. "So, little bird, have you gotten stronger?"

"That's a very stupid question to ask, and as to why I'm late, a lot of things can happen in a decade."

"Poor excuse, Whiteout."

"Threnody, I have reigned alongside my life-mate as Queen of Thieves to his King, lost him to Koenma's hunters, killed his murderer, surrendered to the despair of my mate's loss, worked for the toddler for fifteen years, came close to suiciding, found my mate reincarnated, worked for the toddler some more, sparred with his detective—Raizen's offspring—and nearly lost both soul-sib and friend at the Dark Tournament. Now I face losing the two cubs I have called my soul-children for the rest of eternity and it all hangs on a collection of myth-shrouded stones. All that in the last decade and a half. It's enough to keep even the Sleeping Ones occupied and I understand why your ancestor would rather chase his tail instead of dealing with the worlds."

"Did you even bother to take a breath during most of that?" Threnody inquires in mild amusement, a scaled eyeridge lifting in place of an eyebrow. "My goodness, that whole speech would give a language student fits."

"Don't toy with me, naga, my patience is already worn thin." Aislin's voice is tight, betraying her discomfort at being so close to someone who could (probably) swallow her whole.

"So you display." The massive tail-tip flickers in the distance, sending ripples up the thick hide. "So how strong have you become, little bird, that is the question I want answered."

"I couldn't give a damn about how strong I am compared to you, Threnody," comes the ready reply, bit off in chilled tones, "since I never actually agreed to your idiotic, pointless Game in the first place. I'm here for one thing, and one thing only: the ruby I left behind here."

Somehow, Threnody contrives to look innocent. "You mean the Blood-star Ruby?"

"I figured you'd know what it was. Give it to me, Threnody, and you can keep this territory and your Game."

One clawed hand gestures to the break in the trees where the remainder of her bulk disappears through. "Go and get it, little bird, I shan't stop you. It's right where you left it all those years ago."

Without a word the mixed-blood begins to stride by, but her footsteps halt when she comes face to flank with one thick coil. A smirk crosses coral lips and she launches herself skyway, taking clearing and coils in a single bound and landing easily beside the cave entrance, vanishing into the depths with the trailing end of Threnody's tail to keep her company.

When the ice-fox emerges back into the sunlight with a massive blood-red stone beneath her arm, a blur of black and copper greets her. She counters with her katana, slashing crosswise at the blur, making Threnody shriek and rear back, clutching at her bloody face.

"I warned you, Threnody, that my patience is thin," Aislin tells her as though for all the world discussing the weather, "You should have heeded that warning."

The descendant of the World-Circling Serpent manages a raspy laugh unlike her usual dulcet tones. "You're different, Whiteout. You're not shivering in your boots anymore."

"Yeah, well," Aislin answers when she lands back on the other side of the clearing and walks away, "things change when you're trying to protect the ones you love."

——

Yusuke gives his companions a strange look when all three sneeze at the same time—and oddly enough, in almost the same tone, shaking their heads to clear the tickle away. "You guys do that often?"

"Boss-sama must've been talking about us," mutters Obsidian in his resumed guise of Haru, violet eyes blinking away reaction-tears as he rubs his nose. The gang is walking down the street towards Zephyr's human home, the silver vixen also in her human form and gazing around her with ruby eyes.

"Yusuke, did everything feel strange to you when you came back after your time in the Makai?" she inquires softly, barely audible over the sounds of traffic.

The youkai-descended young man blinks at her before looking skyward and scratching the back of his head. "Come t' think of it, yeah, I guess it did. I mean, this place just seems so much smaller after you spend more than a little time in the other place. Took me some gettin' used to once I got back."

Obsidian turns to Kurama, who has once more assumed the body he'd been born in here, the one of living, jewel-like colors. "Hey, Yo…Minamino-san, where's Hiei? He didn't leave with us."

Emerald eyes glow with inner mischief as the older male swallows a laugh. "He said he had some things to do before giving up his freedom and resuming Koenma's leash," he replies in a light tone. _Though if I were to consider the kinds of 'things' he'd bother to take care of _here_, I'd have to think it's something unrelated to business. Giving his beloved a greeting she'll not forget is something that comes to mind…_ But the human-bodied fox pushes that train of thought aside, since it leads to another, more-traveled path unsuited to public areas and the rating of this fanfic.

The Spirit Detective breaks off when they pass the route that leads to his own home, claiming that he'd better get his ass back so he can get the scoldings from his mother and Keiko that undoubtedly await him over with. But his quick footsteps give the lie to his reluctant words, letting the trio of kitsune know that he's probably looking forward to the kiss Keiko will likely have for him after she chews him out.

Kurama's mind fills with the sensation of polite knocking and the peculiar feeling of being indoors during a blizzard, a sure sign that his ow beloved has something to say to him. Lowering his outermost mental shield, the crimson fox gently calls, _/Yes, koi/_

_/Catch, my heart-thief./_ And a ruby half the size of his head drops into outstretched hands, quickly vanished into his pocket-space before some clueless ningen can spot it and wonder how he'd gotten it.

_/Are you alright, koi/_ Kurama asks, sensing emotional exhaustion and a curious kind of elation in the telepathic link being held by his life-mate.

_/I just faced down one of my nightmares, love, but I'm fine. A little shaken, but fine. I'll see you soon but I need to stop by the Palace first to reassure the toddle that I'm not pillaging and marauding like he probably thinks I am./_ The familiar comfort of a mental kiss being blown at him and the link snaps, broken off by Aislin with the replacement of her shields. Kurama follows her example, giving his young pupils a cheerful smile.

"Well, that's four down, one to go. Let's get Zephyr home before her mother decides to stack more punishment atop what she's already getting, shall we?"

——

"Hello, Koenma."

"Gyaah!" The toddler busy stamping the usual stacks of paperwork leaps out of his chair and onto his head on the floor, dropping his stamp in the process and scattering papers every which way. Quiet laughter greets him as he picks himself back up and climbs back into his chair to gaze dumbfounded at the slender female sitting on nothing in front of his desk. "A-A-Aislin?"

"In the flesh," chuckles his guest, flicking her snowy braid back over her shoulder. "Oh, come now, Koenma, surely you didn't think I simply ditched my sentence and went back to my old life, did you? I still have two-hundred eighty-two years left on parole and plenty of spooking you to do."

"But you were—Hiei was—I thought—"

"Hiei," interrupts the ice-fox, "will likely be along fairly soon with his report on how his hunt for Avalon went. I am here to let you know that he behaved himself while in Makai and did not indulge in criminal activity while out of reach of your regular informants."

"Did he catch him?" Koenma asks eagerly, face falling when his visitor just shakes her head.

"Not yet, I'm afraid, and he's managed to collect two more jewels while we were looking for him." She calls on her Illusions-youkai blood, conjuring images as she speaks. "One is the Eternity Lily and the other is the Blood-star Ruby, so his count includes those and the Dragon's Tear and the Agate Eye."

"Aislin, _you_ and _Yoko_ stole that one."

"Koenma, I don't even know where the silly thing was hidden, so how could I steal it? You must be overworking again."

"You left your damned calling card on the Vault floor, woman!"

"Did I?" Aislin does a much better job than Threnody did at looking innocent. "You know, it's a very well known image these days, are you certain someone wasn't just copycatting us?" She discards that 'notion' while Koenma turns red in the face. "No, no, no one should have been able to break into the Vault in the first place, not with my security designs in place. So really, Koenma, you must be overworking again and imagining things."

"I hate you so much, you know that."

She laughs again, a silvery sound that never fails to make heads turn on the street. "You're just so much fun to antagonize, Koenma, you really are. It doesn't matter who stole it, the Avalon has it. And I doubt you're getting it back for a while."

"He needs to be put back into prison, Aislin. I have no doubt you know that particular legend about the Dragon Gems and he seems set on testing it."

Turquoise eyes roll at the dramatic tones the toddler-prince seems to be intent on using. "Nonsense, Koenma, the boy doesn't even _know_ about that legend and I made sure he wouldn't. I can assure you that he's not going to try _that_."

"I don't believe you."

"Don't believe me or do, I don't care. Now, before this whole mess started you said you had a task that would specifically require someone of my skills, strength, and mentality. Are you still assigning me this task of yours or has someone else already gotten it?"

Koenma settles back in his chair sucking on his pacifier. "It's still yours if you choose to accept it. There is no one else in my employ capable of handling this mission with the level of secrecy needed."

"I will admit you've caught my interest. Do continue…"

Over an hour later the koorime woman emerges from Koenma's office, mulling over her new mission. No wonder he'd needed her; she's very likely the only one who could do it, period. Walking in her own thoughts, she passes by startled ogres and ferry-girls that yelp and go the other way when they spot her. She doesn't notice, busy running numbers behind her eyes in calculation.

She'd be cutting it close. If she doesn't finish fast enough…A violent shake of the snowy head dispels that unpleasant thought. That won't happen. She refuses to let it. Determination quickens her steps and she's nearly running—for a normal human—down the corridor when BAM!

"Ouch!"

"Eh? Botan-chan?"

The bubbly ferry-girl blinks at the figure almost glowing beneath the fluorescent lights of the hallway, standing in a relaxed pose with one hand outstretched. "Aislin-san! Oh, my! I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going!" The taller girl accepts the proffered hand and is pulled to her feet, bowing once she's upright. "What's it been, almost a month?"

"Almost," agrees the youkai, a kernel of an idea forming. "Say, Botan-chan, are you doing anything at the moment?"

"Eh? Um, no, I don't have anyone that I'm scheduled to pick up. Why?"

"I need a ride."

————————————————————————————


	15. Chapter 14: Victories and Secrets

This chapter contains a couple of spoilers relating to Fox's Mischief. If you've already read it or Wonderful Journey, then don't worry. Which reminds me, I should put that warning in over there…Also, Magus, you finally get the answer to what your question was about. Pay careful attention to Aislin!

——————————————————————————–——

The midsummer twilight weighs down the city like a favorite blanket, softening edges and bringing out the scents of evening on a gentle breeze. It plays with a few last pieces of laundry still drying on clotheslines and the inky bangs of a certain disguised fox clambering in squirrel-style up the side of a large maple to eel out along one thick branch.

One graceful hand reaches down and knuckles rap in a soft tempo on the window just below him, a window that is quickly opened by a girl with silver hair. "Hi, Haru. Come to visit me in my isolation?" teases Zephyr, bracing her elbows on the windowsill.

"Well, it has been three days," the fox chuckles, chin resting on his crossed hands. The branch is at the perfect height for him to just lay there, hidden from casual passerby by a screen of deep green leaves, and talk to his sister. "I missed you."

"Missed you, too," replies his sister with a silent laugh. "It's too quiet around here now, not to mention it's boring just doing homework. Have you caught up on yours yet?"

"Just barely," Obsidian assures her with a face filled with disgust. "Came damn close to being able to swim in it, ne?"

"Hon'too so desu," sighs the vixen. Her hand reaches up and brushes her bangs out of her face in a habitual gesture. The jewel and characters are invisible in this human form, having been set while the twins are in kitsune form (Kurama had presided over the fourth ceremony in a secluded park corner just a few minutes away from the Uotani home). Were the twins to transform into their furry-eared selves, the character for 'strength' would be visible in glittering crimson on the right side of the jewel in their foreheads.

The Ruby-Soul had given the twins an approving nod before commenting in a dry tone that it was about time someone had woken her up. Once again there had been no trip to the Void, something the kits were grateful for since it left them more energy to slog through the enormous pile of homework their absences had generated.

"Yusuke's been making up for lost time with a vengeance," Obsidian offers in the way of news, smiling to see Zephyr perk with interest. "He's giving the entire city an overhaul and most of the pesky intruders have decided to find themselves more fitting quarters. It's odd though," he adds, face growing puzzled, "that almost none of them have tried going back home. It's like something's stopping them."

"Makes less work for Mom, she's been complaining that she's getting too old to go chasing after stubborn spirits lately." Zephyr rolls her eyes at the though of what she sees as overdramatic complaints on the part of her human mother, then makes a grab for the marmalade streak that bounds onto the sill, then the branch. "Kizi!"

"Hello, neko-chan," Obsidian chuckles while the cat purrs and greets him with a face-rub, the fingers of one hand tickling the tabby under her furry chin. "Nice to see you again, too." A few annoyed grunts escape him when Kizi chooses his back as her next nap-site and jumps over his head directly onto his spine before arranging herself to her satisfaction. "Well, crap," the renard grumbles under Zephyr's giggles, "now I'm not gonna be able to move until she does."

"If you want to get up all you have to do is wake her up."

"Well, yeah, but it's not polite to wake a housecat up from a nap."

Zephyr tilts her head to one side. "Why not? You do it to our big kitty back home."

"She's a different story," accompanies a dismissive flick of his fingers. "She'd sleep the day away if she gets the chance. Housecats have to make their humans do chores and the like, which is hard work."

"Only if you ask the cat," counters a giggling Zephyr, and then she sobers. "Haru, hey, listen. There have been a couple of strange people following me around lately but they don't smell like us. Any ideas?"

Obsidian closes his (currently) violet eyes for a moment in thought. "They're probably agents of the toddler," he finally decides. "If they are, they're probably making sure that you're okay and that you don't remember anything. So if they keep following you it means you're doing a good job in pretending that you don't."

"Good," sighs Zephyr. "'Cause if they kept sneaking around I was going to give them a dose of fuda magic. They're getting annoying."

"Well, don't do anything that will give the Game away," her brother cautions with a slight lift of his hand in warning. "Otherwise they'll drag you off to you-know-where and blank your memory real fast or they'll lock you up."

"Gotcha. You better watch your own rabbit-hole, too, while you're getting glances at mine." Zephyr gives him her best 'I'm serious' Look to drive home her point. "No good if you get caught again either."

"I won't. Cross my heart and hope to go straight. Rogue's honor and everything," he assures her. "Now could you please convince your kitty that I'm not that comfy so I can slip off again? My own tails are getting a little too close for comfort."

"Right. Kizi, snack time." Instantly the cat is up and on the sill, letting out a mrowl of complaint when no treat presents itself under her nose and she is picked up, instead. "Take care and stay safe, brother."

"Aye, and you too, sister. I'll see you soon."

"Tomorrow at school?"

"Hai. Tomorrow at school, on the roof. Jya." And the dark youth slips off into the deepening night without a sound. Zephyr stays a few moments longer by the window, gazing at the leaves tugged by the breeze and lit by her bedroom light, before pulling down the sash and turning away to resume the last of her homework. Only the cat, still perched on the sill, notices the shadow that separates itself from the night to stand beneath the lamp across the street, neon reflecting in the back of crimson eyes before the shadow vanishes.

——

"Are you certain, Hiei?"

"Hn. Certain that you're a fool. The girl remembers nothing and you've wasted both my time and that of David and Sonja checking on her. You underestimate the snowflake if you thought she'd leave the girl's memories whole."

A long sigh edged in relief. "Good. I don't want her remembering, it'd be bad for the three worlds' collective health. Keep looking for the Avalon and arrest him if you find him."

"Hn. Fine."

"Oh, and Hiei, another century has been added onto your sentence for the stunt you pulled. I don't care if you _were_ going after your quarry, you still were AWOL for more than two weeks. Next time, if you pursue your target into restricted zones, take a damned communicator and send bloody _reports_."

"You're getting paranoid in your old age, toddler. Take care to see that you do not frighten yourself to death."

"Don't threaten me, Jaganshi. It doesn't matter how many cards you think you hold, you're not the one controlling the deck."

An image of a young woman with long scarlet hair and wickedly-amused green eyes springs unbidden to the fire apparition's mind (!) and he gives the stressed prince his patented smirk. "No, and neither do you."

——

Catcalls greet the slender young man walking up the dirt road wearing a business suit, his spiky ruby hair caught at the nape of his neck by a simple silver clip, rising from the various construction workers waiting on their machines for the stroke of eight.

Monks stand in a cluster just behind the machines, faces forlorn or angry as they too, await the death knell of their beloved church and the bulldozing of their grounds. The foreman has his steel-grey eyes locked on the approaching stranger, not liking the air of legality the young man wears like an expensive cologne.

"Pardon me," the stranger calls in accentless French, "but which of you good monks is the one who spoke to a white-haired woman and her students a couple weeks ago?"

A young man just a few years older than the stranger separates himself from his brethren, blue eyes curious. "That would be me, sir."

"Very good!" enthuses the stranger with a cheery smile as he hands over a thick manila envelope that had been tucked under his arm. "This will be yours, then."

The foreman frowns, very much not liking the way this is going. He checks his watch: ten minutes to eight. "Who are you and what do you want?" he demands, shouting to be heard over his crew and their machinery. He's given a quick, assessing glance by emerald eyes before a response is called back, still in that cheery tone.

"I'm a representative from the law firm of Kage, Kinzoku, and Tsuki, on behalf of my employer, Ms. Moors. As of yesterday at three o' clock, this monastery and the surrounding property for ten miles belongs to her. And as of," he checks his own, tasteful watch, "seven forty-eight, it belongs to this gentlemonk right here, paid in full for a good century."

The catcalls are abruptly cut off as though someone had detonated a silence spell. All eyes are focused on the figure of the pale monk as he opens the envelope and pulls out several official-looking documents, a bill of sale with a staggering amount of zeros at the bottom, and what appears to be several deeds, including one titled for the 'Church of Redemption'. "Dulcis Erus," breathes the man holding a miracle in his hands.

"He hasn't signed anything."

"Easily solved," chirrups the lawyer. _—author starts laughing—_ And, taking out a ball-point pen from his pocket, swiftly has the dazed monk sign where needed (marked by those neat little post-it flags). "There we go, signed and delivered!" The young man shakes hands with several monks, all of them beginning to look hopeful, since this doesn't appear to be a cruel dream sent by the Tormentor or the like. "Congratulations, Mr.—" a quick glance at the topmost signature lifts one scarlet eyebrow "—Barac, on being the proud new owner of this fine piece of land. I advise you give our firm a call if you need help working out details with the farms included in the purchase."

And after handing the dazed Brother Barac a slick-looking business card, the lawyer bows politely and heads back to town at a surprisingly fast walk. After a few moments, the raven-haired monk looks up at the foreman and gives him a cold stare. "You heard the lawyer, sir, now get you and your men and your contraptions of destruction off of my property this instant!"

"Yes, sir," sighs the foreman, jerking his head to his crew in the signal to clear out. The boss will not be pleased with this, unless this Ms. Moors had paid enough money to make even that greedy, soulless harpy happy. To call Ms. Blackstone a woman would be a gross misstatement and would likely end up with him getting hung up by his heels thanks to his wife.

In the rumble of machines roaring to life and slowly making their way down the worse-for-wear dirt road, one other thought does occur to the resigned construction boss.

He'd better be still getting paid for this.

The monks, on the other hand, are praising God for this unexpected but wholly welcome miracle, Brother Barac still staring at the sheaf of papers in his hands in the fashion usually reserved for the gates of Heaven. While his fellow holy men celebrate with uncharacteristic whoops of joy and unabashed spontaneous embraces, the blue-eyed man shifts through the stack in his hand, and blinks when he comes across a simple envelope.

Stuffing the rest of the papers, deeds and all, back into the manila envelope, Barac carefully slits open the creamy white package cryptically addressed to 'the one who knew the legend' with his tiny belt-knife, pulling out a single page of thick stationary decorated with a stylized white rose at the top.

And while his brothers-in-faith head back into their church to prepare for the Evening Mass (since it is already too late for the Morning and no one would know it would be able to be held anyway), the silent young man reads the elegant calligraphic script.

_'To the monk who spoke kindly of a fallen hero; _

_I'm certain you're quite confused as to why a complete stranger would bother to spend so much money on what should seem to be an insignificant church slated to become a tourist spot. Let me assure you, I have very good reasons. One, because I had the money—and no, I did not ruin myself financially in this satisfying purchase—two, because you yourself had respect for the dead and their stories. And three: because the funeral of Anthony Barbarac, whom I knew as Yuuki Miyami, was the first funeral I ever attended._

It takes a strong effort to keep from dropping the letter, but the shocked monk manages and keeps reading.

_No, I am not crazy, nor are you. Nor am I a demon, at least in the conventional religious meaning of the word. Anthony was my opponent in a long ago time, and I still respect him. I'd hardly want his burial grounds to become a place of neon lights, cheap souvenirs, and expensive lodgings. This is an honest gift to you and your brethren, along with the request that you continue watching over the sleepers in your charge for as long as you may. And take care of yourself, as well. I might come back to visit should the mood take me, and it would be pleasant to converse with you again._

_Signed, Aislin Moors, aka 'the demon of Barbarac'_

_PS. And no, silly boy, no one lost their souls for this. It was all money I earned the good ol' fashioned way.(!) Enjoy the next hundred years of zero mortgage worries!_

_PPS. Do try to keep this letter a secret, all right? It would be most exasperating to be met at the gate with holy water and crosses, especially since neither would work on me. I'm as much a tangible, earthly being as you, good monk. I just happen to be longer lived with a wide array of nifty abilities.' _

The raven-haired man stares at the letter in disbelief. What kind of demon uses 'nifty'? It just doesn't seem…proper. Then again, given what he'd seen of that innocent-looking white-haired woman, she wouldn't meet the proper standards of any demon of the religious texts.

"Anthony!" calls his friend from the gate leading to the garden. "Come on! Since it's not going to be uprooted, the garden isn't going to weed itself, you know! Drop those papers off with the Abbot and get a move on!"

Resolving to get the full story from Ms. Moors on her next visit, Brother Anthony Barac, member of the Order of the Sapphire Rose, turns his back on the road and enters his beloved church for what happens to not be the last time.

—

Not far down the road, a familiar red-head sits high in a tree and watches the noisy construction crew head back to town. One hand lazily reaches into the pocket of his Armani suit (bought for the occasion with money from his own vast personal hoard) and pulls out a familiar little item: a communication mirror.

Flipping it open, he punches in a memorized combination and holds it to his ear like a cellphone. After a moment there comes a faint query and he smiles. "It went beautifully," he informs whoever's on the other end. "Nary a hitch. And you won't believe the name of that monk, dearheart." A questioning sound. "Anthony Barac. Sound familiar?"

A moment of silence and then a startled, disbelieving squawk that is audible even with the noise of the machines. Kurama laughs. "I was surprised, too, nearly gave the whole Game away when I saw his signature. I didn't think any of that man's descendents were still alive, let alone still carrying on the name and the tradition of working for Good."

A longer silence on his part while his listens. "Yes, love, I know. Pesky though he was, you liked him very much. I still disagree with you about that letter you wrote, but it is your Game. I'll see you when you finish that mission you won't tell me about, all right?"

A loving affirmative emanates from the com-pact and then nothing. Snapping the device shut, Kurama takes a moment to admire the pretty scene of church and agricultural lands against the flawless blue sky that has remained virtually unchanged by the passage of time, then drops backward off his branch into the waiting portal below.

——

Seven days later, Kurama is not so sanguine. He strides into the Reikai Palace in a haze of suppressed fear and anger, his destination the desk piled head-high with paperwork. The diminutive figure stamping his way through the mountain with apparent disregard spares him a brief look when the changeling slams his hands down on the polished wood.

Rather, the prince's attention is taken up by the stacks the impact has caused to majestically slide off the desk onto the floor. "Koenma, where has my beloved gone?" Kurama cries. "For a week, nothing! Not a sense, not a scent, not a glimpse of her! No messages, no calls, physical or telepathic!_ Where has she gone_?"

Koenma refuses to look at him again, seeming to be absorbed in the task of collecting the scattering papers in a slow, methodical fashion. Tapping what he has into a neat stack, the child-prince finally admits, "We don't know."

Fear blooms into something close to panic and Kurama whirls to pace in front of the desk. Fifteen strides to the left, fifteen strides to the right, repeat. "What do you mean 'you don't know'? How can you _misplace_ someone like her? Her very strength alone should tell you exactly where the hell she is!" The kitsune-turned-human raises his voice with every word until he's close to shouting at the top of his lungs, still moving in his frenzied pace.

Koenma pauses in his collection to actually glare at the male shifting into Yoko while still striding angrily up and down. "That would be a moot point if she's worked herself to a wraith," he snaps at the half-changed male. Kurama stops, surprised out of his transformation at the heat in the child-prince's voice and eyes. "She was sent on a mission that was not, by any means, to leak outside of a circle of two. She and myself. If you will lower your volume and give me your oath to keep your mouth shut I _might_ consider telling you what that mission is."

Obligingly the kitsune ceases his pacing and taking a deep breath, somehow managing to give that oath in a voice close to his normal, polite tones. The child-prince finishes collecting his wayward forms and straightens, abruptly in his teenaged form as he sets the papers down on his desk.

Coffee-brown eyes gaze impassively from beneath darker bangs, before Koenma sighs. "She was sent out to locate and repair all rips and weak spots in the Kekkai barrier, including purposeful tunnels and the like. She was also to work into the barrier the additional block against stronger youkai who use containers to hold portions of their power in order to pass. Her last report was three days ago and ended with the statement that she had earned some vacation time and she would be taking it. We have not heard from her since."

"You left her _alone?_" Disbelief wars with dismay and growing temper.

"No, you impertinent fox, I didn't. Botan was with her—we haven't heard a peep from that bubblehead either."

"Graah!" The fox resumes his pacing, one hand tugging at the spikes rising along the implied path of his spine along his skull. "She'd be weak, exhausted, easy prey for practically anyone who'd come along," he growls under his breath, trying to adjust his way of thinking to that of his beloved, finding it difficult to encompass the sometimes-impossible leaps of logic her Oracle blood allows her. "The ferry-girl would be of little help, if any." Fifteen steps to the left, fifteen to the right. Koenma watches with a carefully-empty face, leaning against his desk while watching this valuable tactician wrestle his thoughts into submission. "She would need a sanctuary. But where? Where in the three worlds would she go when she's going to be in _that_ kind of shape?"

Suspicion flickers into life in Koenma's eyes. "What kind of shape, Kurama?" he queries softly, hoping that the gentleness of the probe would distract the fox into giving a straight answer for a change. No dice. All he gets is a flash of molten gold behind scarlet bangs. Oh, goody, he'd be getting a real visit from Yoko if things keep up. Sighing, he offers one suggestion: "She won't be in the Makai, the very conditions and repairs that she was making would keep her from it."

"Foxes always leave themselves loopholes," Kurama says, sounding as though he's quoting someone. His footsteps falter. "Loophole…A loophole!"

"Wait, Kurama, what are you—?" The prince subsides, Kurama having already dashed out of his office. "Damn foxes," Koenma mutters as he sinks back into his plush chair. "Never give you a bloody straight answer. One of these days, I swear I'm going to sit that fox or another down and keep them here until someone tells me what the hell is going on!"

——

A scarlet-haired young woman leads another with a blue ponytail along a quiet path up the steps to a small monastery/shrine, emerald eyes seeking. Not finding what she's looking for, she puts a hand out to stop the blue-haired girl, who shifts the limp form on her back into a more comfortable position.

"Yamato-san, I request your presence immediately," calls the red-head in a firm tone, the sound carrying impossibly far through the buildings. "I'm afraid this simply cannot wait."

"Kenobishi-san," greets a man in burnt-orange robes, emerging from the main shrine. "You bring impatience with you, as always."

"Not to mention a problem. Botan-chan, could you let him get a clear look at Aislin-san, please?" Obligingly, the blue-haired girl turns to show the grimy, unconscious woman slung piggyback-style on her back. The wool clothing could once have been considered white, but an odd amber-brown dust coats both wool and woman from head to toe. Even the pointed ears emerging from beneath once-white hair are a uniform shade of amber-brown.

"You bring a demon to us." The age-old prejudice is clear in the monk's voice and the red-head's eyes spark with temper.

"She works for our side, Yamato-san, and she needs one of your wards very badly. The Clearing, I think, would be safest for her." While the monk unwillingly leads the way towards the Half-Moon Temple's goshinboku, their sacred tree hidden in a quiet corner of the temple's grounds, the red-head explains. "She's just been nearly a week working on the barrier that keeps a majority of the problems of the Demon World _in_ Demon World. She's close to tapped out or she'd have managed to make it to her planned sanctuary before she passed out. And she's really going to need your wards very, very soon."

"I'm Botan, one of Koenma-sama's ferry-girls, by the way," the violet-eyed girl blurts, having gotten from her companion that these monks limit their questions as much as possible. "I'm supposed to be Aislin-san's escort but I don't know where she was planning on recovering, so I brought her to Rei-san and she brought us here. I'm terribly sorry to impose on you like this but Aislin-san would be furious with me if I'd brought her back to Spirit World right after she put in for a couple weeks' vacation."

"Botan-chan," Rei says in a calm voice, "chill. The wards that are produced here are enough to keep even _me_ contained to an extent. Which reminds me, Yamato-san, this ward will be for both keeping out and keeping in. I don't want her to hurt herself and I don't want anything to get in to hurt her."

"Very well," the man replies in a cool tone, clearly unhappy at having to harbor a demon but unable to complain since she is not an evil creature, not if she works for Reikai. The group falls silent then except for the ragged sounds of Aislin's breathing, Yamato's face softening slightly at her obvious exhaustion.

When the quartet reaches the tree, a massive sibling to the one that grows in Genkai's forest, Rei gently takes Aislin from an uncertain Botan's back and carries her over to the tree. Even before the red-head reaches the base, branches are reaching downward for the limp form.

Yamato watches with wide eyes as a bushy white tail also covered in that strange amber-brown dust abruptly slides from around the tiny waist, tipping him off that this is no mere demon. "You should have mentioned that she is a kitsune," he tells Rei in a mildly reproachful tone. "The messengers of Inari _are_ welcome here."

"Next time I'll remember," mutters the teenager sourly, eyes sharp as she observes the tree settle Aislin at the first split of the thick trunk, where it forms a perfect resting place for a weary body. "She might wake up in the next several hours but I highly doubt it. I'd make it your strongest two-way ward, Yamato-san. Even tapped out like she is, what's coming will shatter anything less."

"What _is_ coming, Rei-san?" Botan asks as the two girls leave the clearing, stepping aside to let a number of monks carrying incense and talismans past them to seal the area around the tree.

"Let's just say that this place will be experiencing a very early frost. The goshinboku's a hardwood and used to extreme temperatures so it'll survive just fine. If you can't figure out that hint, then I'm not telling you any more. It's her own business, not mine."

"Oh." Nope. Botan's still clueless even as she gets on her oar and leaves to report to Koenma.

Kurama is not. By the time Rei has reached home, jogging all the way, he's waiting for her at her front gate, edgy and impatient at having lost so much time. His cousin (adopted, but it's uncanny how much they look alike) gives him her usual impish grin.

"Took you long enough, cousin. She's still sleeping last time I checked, but if you run you can probably be there when she snaps out of it. Half-Moon Temple, just on the northern edge of town. I'd bring lots of food if I were you. The silly snowflake hardly ate a bite despite Botan's prodding so she's going to be starving. And make sure you eat something, too," she calls after the disappearing form of her cousin. "Typical male," the current Fate sighs, walking into her yard. "How long does he think her heat's going to last, anyway?"

——

Just when Yamato thinks everything will be quiet as usual, one of the neonates comes running up, robe askew and breathless. "Yamato-sama, Yamato-sama!"

"What is it, Fubiki-san?"

A frantic pointing back towards the goshinboku. "There's a demon trying to break into the ward for kitsune-sama!"

_Another one?_ groans the priest internally, levering himself up out of the Lotus and following after the novice. On his way out he snags his holy sword from where it rests above the mantel of the Shrine, the familiar buzz of pure energy comforting against his palm.

Relieved that his superior will be handling the terrifying creature (_Dratted newbies, no courage at all,_ grumbles the non-monkish corner of Yamato's mind) the acolyte once again points in the proper direction and high-tails it back to his duties.

Still grumbling internally at the disruption to his previously-serene day, the orange-clad, shiny-pated man strides down the cobbled path, his sandals clacking against the stones. He hears a yowl of pain as he approaches the clearing, the shield in sight but not the demon. However, when Yamato circles 'round the entrance, he spies a tall silver stranger looking balefully at the charred skin on his hands.

"Damn monks and their warding seals," snarls the youkai, his silver tail lashing in temper against his legs. "Why in Inari's name did Rei bring her _here?_" Still glaring, he starts licking his new injuries.

"Because," Yamato replies, blocking a thrown seed with the flat of his blade, "Kenobishi-sama chose to. We do not question her reasons or motives, but I am willing to question yours."

Yoko advances on the unperturbed monk with murder in mind. "I will say this nice and slowly, little priest," he tells the human with dangerous calm. "That is my life-mate in there. I have not seen her for a week. And you are in range for several uncomfortable techniques."

"And we are the chosen of Kami, and I do mean that directly, kitsune-sama. Your threats do not frighten me."

A bloodthirsty smile lights the golden eyes. "Scared the hell out of one of your band, priest."

"An apprentice new to the faith," sighs Yamato. He eyes the ward, coruscating mist filling the space behind the pearly shield. "Judging by your actions, I will assume you wish in."

"You assume correctly."

"Prove your relation to either our charge or Kenobishi-sama and I shall allow you to enter."

"Oh, for the love of—Rei is my gods-be-damned cousin! And as I told you, Aislin is my _life-mate_! How do you prove such an intangible link as that?"

"You, sir kitsune, look nothing like Kenobishi-sama's description of her cousin."

Yoko throws up his singed hands with a Kitsune oath and shrinks. "Is _this_ better, priest?" demands the crimson-haired youth that replaces the silver giant, emerald eyes slit in anger.

_'You'll likely meet my cousin Kurama one of these days. He's easy to recognize: just put my colors and face on a male body, but his nose is longer and so are his eyelashes, drat the man. And if something actually makes him come here, his temper will be none too sweet, either.'_

"As a matter of fact, you now match Kenobishi-sama's description perfectly, Minamino-san."

"Thanks bunches, cousin," growls the fox under his breath. "Now let me in, priest."

"Very well, hold still." And Yamato swings his sword to point directly at Kurama.

"Eh? What are you—ow!" Kurama recoils, hand clapped to the scratches welling blood on his forehead. "Damned monk, that hurt!" He pulls his hand away, blinking at the sigil now smeared on his palm. "Eh?"

"You have until that heals over to get inside. It's a sigil only we head priests know, so I suggest you enter the warding before I change my mind about letting you in." Before Yamato has half-finished his last sentence, Kurama whirls and leaps through the pearly shield, relief softening his features until it resembles Rei's own normal expression to an uncanny degree. The orange-clad priest just shakes his head and walks away, muttering things about stubborn messengers of deities and their disrupting habits.

Inside, Kurama looks up to find a smudge of pale amber-brown peeking over the edge of a treebranch, and figures by the scent wafting down that it belongs to his sweetheart. The grasses inside the shield are beginning to sparkle with frost; the changeling would bet that it would be forming on the ward-shield as well if it didn't melt on contact. _Blasted wards, I hate the things. When you want out they keep you in, and when you want in they keep you out, unless you're willing to part with several layers of your flesh. Damn it all, and I'd just gotten used to not hurting when I moved! _

The chilly air pulses, the mists writhing into new fantastic shapes. The crimson male feels himself respond to that silent summons, shifting back into Yoko and leaping into the tree…to find his beloved very much unconscious and in no shape for what he had in mind.

With a frustrated, weary sigh, Yoko picks up Aislin and cradles her on his lap, using his own body heat to cool her off a bit, since to her the air is getting very warm in rapid order. He'd have to wait until she wakes and feed her first, like Rei had told him. And Inari help anyone who tries to put their nose where it doesn't belong.

_/Fox, where are you/_ Yoko squashes flat the instinctual feelings of jealousy that rise at the male telepathic query, stuffing them for the time being into a cupboard in the back of his mind.

_/Half-Moon temple with Aisuhana. I advise you to stay away for the next couple of days./_

There is an almost tangible feeling of Hiei adding up the numbers and coming to the correct conclusion, though he doesn't speak it aloud. Instead, _/I'll keep the two fools clear as well. And fox, don't push her. I don't feel like patching you up this time./_

_/Go away./_

_/I'll take that as your insatiable hormones talking and let that slide. Expect a sparring match when you've both recovered./_ And the mental touch is gone, leaving Yoko to run his fingers through his long mane with a pained hiss and pull out several seeds, dropping them to the ground and filling them with his energy.

At the silent command his chosen plants burst into growth, all cold-hardy plants of the Makai that quickly hang heavy with several varieties of fruit, the silver kitsune wishing briefly that he had a plant that could provide some sort of meat since his beloved would likely wake craving protein. Did he still have that lump of venison in the pocket space tucked behind his ear? A probe of his energy tells him that indeed, he does, and thanks to the preservative properties of the private dimensional space it's still quite edible. _Heh, and the detective always wonders why my rose stays fresh no matter how long it stays in my hair. Really should teach him how to use pocket-space one of these days. Maybe in a decade? He should have started to outgrow that unbalanced behavior by then._

—————————————————————————————————

Hon'too so desu: So very true

(!) You'd have to have read either Fox's Mischief or Wonderful Journey to get it. Gets explained in the chapter anyway.

Kaze, Kinzoku, and Tsuki: Shadow, Silver and Moon, otherwise known as Hiei, Yoko, and Aislin in one of their group aliases.

Dulcis Erus: Latin for 'sweet lord'. For some reason my online dictionary didn't want to give me 'good god' or the like.

Yes. By stealing it.

Kekkai: Ward (Thank you, xxxHolic!)

Goshinboku: sacred tree


	16. Chapter 15: Shadows, Ice, Rings of Gold

**Fate's Child Destiny's Friend**: So…should that be a 'then grins lopsidedly at both his brother and cousin'? I honestly thought what I'd had was all right, but it works this way, too, I suppose_…—tilts head and mumbles to self for a few minutes—_

**Darknesspirals**: Nope, can't blame you a bit. Hells, even I can't remember some of what I wrote unless I go back and read it. I had a couple of plot-holes pop up that way in Fox's Mischief, and probably at least once in my other stories, too. Anybody spots 'em, point 'em out and you get a cookie. If I've already marked it, likely as not it'll prove to be an interesting twist or bit of foreshadowing later.

Not quite the loophole I meant there (let's hear it for random leaps of logic, yeah?) but yes, she's left herself—and the gang—a loophole. Specifically, a portal keyed to their energy signatures. I left that out of the story, so I'm putting it here, where only the smart people read.

**Kitsune Kit**: _—while hiding all the dangerous chocolate from Aislin—_ So you're no longer a freshie, huh? That's good, people will want to can you less. Maybe if you poke fun at the newspaper staff in your articles they'll go away? We'll see you when you can drop by!

—_voice comes on over a loudspeaker that appears from nowhere—_ **For public safety, please do not feed the ice-fox sugar or pixies. Thank you, that is all.** _—bzzt!—_

Aislin: No, that's your universe over there. My own Yoko, however, is off-limits.

**Asilin Kheldarson**: Poorly, that's how. I love the little pipe-fox spirit, it's so adorable and fuzzy! But to answer your question, yes, I'm leaving all the fun details up to your own inventive little minds. More fun for you, less work for me. Also, I'm too lazy to bother changing the rating of this fic, and your outcries of displeasure when I leave something hanging like that amuse me.

Starling: Oh, very bad pun! No cookie for you! Bad Niana!

Heh-heh-heh. 'n,.,n'

**Seeyu**: Yes, reading others in the timeline does usually help. Unless you're someone like Piers Anthony or Mercedes Lackey or one of the other greats. Then, then you don't need to read in order. Me, I like overlapping bits and pieces of my stories, it convinces people to read them all. Sneaky, aren't I? _—pleased smile—_

**DevilDucky1304**: Trust me, unless you're as naïve as I used to be—before my sister and her friends had the joy of corrupting me, that is—this chappie should clear it all up. If not, just check back to what Rei said when Kurama dropped by.

**Luna's Lady Love**: Here ya go, an update! To answer: 1) They'll be getting very…um…itchy. Vows of chaste behavior will be sorely strained. 2) He's very creative. I'm sure he'll think of something. ¬,.,¬ **· · · **

**Konane Shadow Wolf**: Glad you like. Keep reading!

**EarthHeartIdiot**: Welcome! I like puns, puns are amusing. Make as many as you want to. No, the reunion is not going to be written, mostly because if I did, this fiction would go unfinished thanks to Hiei chopping me into tiny pieces. I abuse my OC's, any regular can tell you this. The more I like or the more I use, the more shyte I put them through. Aislin being absolutely no exception. However, my ice-fox-mutt gives far better than she gets in most cases (ie, she may have gotten beat up by those guards, but they are the ones who are very, very dead.) Crappy situations build character.

Starling: NIANA! That was HORRIBLE!

**CrimsonSnowflake:** I think I need to remind you, web-links don't work in reviews unless you add spaces. Care to try again? Yes, faeries vary. They vary everywhere, just ask any mythological…um, is expert the word to use?

—————To everyone who has ever received a review from me in their careers, 'specially those I have in my favs: I apologize for not being caught up on your own stories. All I can say is, that thing they call reality eats lots of time, and never, EVER, **_EVER_** get DSL. Go for cable. DSL whomps the uber whompage. Thank you.———————

Warning: This chapter contains lots of innuendo, but no actual snogging.

————————————————————————————

Oh, hells, it's hot. She hangs suspended in a world of ice, her very core burning her alive with the heat. Why is it so damned hot and why can she not move? Something's going to be bitten in short order if she doesn't find herself moving in a moment. A blessed patch of cold settles at her back and she soaks it up eagerly, basking in the relief until something passes by her nose. It smells of life, and she's starving…

"OW! Damn it to hell, Aislin, that fucking hurt!" The sweetness in her mouth is pried away with several inventive curses that she hadn't come up with. Only one person she knows who can actually invent as many creative curses as she can.

"Yo…ko?"

"You're awake. Lovely. You _bit_ me, and without any fun first." Yoko's normally seductive voice is sullen, full of something much earthier than anger. "Did you _have_ to bite me on the ward burns? You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up and kiss me, moron."

"At the moment, I have something that, for once, might be tastier than me. Say 'ah'."

She manages to pry open one eye to see her beloved dangling what looks like a bunch of grapes over her head. "Are those Makai grapes?"

"Yes."

"Good. 'Ah'." She revels in the sweet taste, juice mingling with the traces of her mate's blood lingering in her mouth. "Kitsune with grape chaser. Yummy."

Yoko can't help but smile as he feeds her, leaning back against a thick main branch so that the two half-recline, her head resting just above his stomach. "I'd say 'bite me' but you already have. Can we have a little bit of foreplay before you do that again?"

Her mind's still hazy with exhaustion and hunger, but she vaguely remembers a vow she'd made not to bed him until his new body is physically old enough…how old was old enough in a human? "We're not mating. You're still too young."

The silver fox pops another grape into her mouth and speaks into the silence left by chewing. "Koibito, my body is eighteen and has been since two months ago. That's legally old enough and quite old enough for my hormones, thank you very much. For the love of all that's holy, don't torture me."

There was something else, and she tries to figure it out while continuing to eat the offerings of her beloved. She's gone through five bunches of grapes, two apples, and the venison before she remembers what else she had thought about before she'd gone on the mission involving the barrier. Yoko had remained silent after his plea, waiting until that introverted, distracted expression of hers clears. "For real this time."

Yoko pulls his attention from the pheromones driving him delightfully insane. "For real what?"

Levering herself up, the mixed-blood looks her lover in the eye. "This time, we're not going to just talk about starting a family. Every time we've just _talked_ about it, something bad happens. I don't want to talk about it anymore, I want to make it a reality. And that's the only way you're getting anything. Otherwise, you sit over here and I sit over there or something and I do my damnedest to ignore you."

Heat fills the cherished golden eyes as the fox pulls his beloved close and leans in for a kiss, whispering just before their lips touch, "Wish granted."

——

"Fool, I would not disturb them if I were you."

"Aw, come on, Hiei!" complains Yusuke as they walk down the cobblestone path with a resigned Yamato in the lead. "They've been recuperating from that secret mission of theirs for two days! I've been working my ass off and by Kami they're going to get off their tails and help!" Almost as an afterthought, "Why is it so cold around here?"

Hiei refrains from comment, silent even when the talisman sealing the clearing is severed by the holy sword he remembers so well from the last time he'd encountered it, watching Rei in this very place. It's still nearly giving him hives. He thinks in the direction of the sword with venom, _Maybe I should _break it And smirks internally when it ceases its attempts to cleanse his soul of darkness.

The second the ward dissipates Hiei claps a hand over his nose, almost overwhelmed by the pheromones that had been contained within. Several fruit-bearing plants are standing forlornly around the massive tree, the only things visible of the tree's occupants being one bare male foot and the trailing end of an empty sleeve.

Yusuke stalks to the base of the tree, oblivious to all the signs, and shouts with a disgusting level of cheer, "Rise and shine, lovebirds! Time to get your tails to work!"

In response, the foot disappears from sight and a shoe is thrown with unerring accuracy into Yusuke's head. "Piss off!" comes a groggy snarl. Hiei smirks openly this time. Yoko sounds satisfied, at least. But when Yusuke makes as though to jump up there to roust them out of their nest by sheer force, Hiei restrains him with a hand clamped onto his shoulder.

"Unless you wish to see more than you'd like," he drawls in a mild tone, "I suggest you keep your feet on the ground."

"Why?" Yusuke's face is the picture of naivete. "Are they naked up there or something?"

Eyeing the sleeve fluttering in an afternoon breeze, Hiei gives a neutral, "Probably."

"Oh. Then I really don't." And he spreads his feet in a firm stance just to make his point. A tousled pewter head peers over the edge of the tree-hollow, green eyes only half open but with a sated smile on the carmine lips.

"I'm surprised," the stranger says in Aislin's voice, still soft from sleep. "You don't want to see a pretty naked woman? Are you sure you're a male?"

"Mine," comes the satisfied male voice again, sounding no little territorial. The pewter fox disappears with a giggle and a thud, several rustling sounds emanating from the sanctuary.

"With all due respect, kitsune-sama," Yamato states in disapproval, "the temple's sacred tree is not meant to be the setting for bedroom games. If you would be so kind, **go**. **Home**."

"Spoilsport priest," sighs Aislin's voice again, both foxes leaping down a few moments later in equal states of clothed disarray. Yusuke is busy turning crimson as it finally occurs to him what exactly his friends have been doing, his gaze stuck on Aislin busy trying to finger-comb her mottled storm cloud tresses.

"For _two_ whole fricken'_ days_?"

"Ah, he gets it," purrs Yoko, looking very pleased with himself. "For a moment there I was afraid it would go over your head." And that wicked smile of his grows while his demon-descended companion dissolves into incomprehensible spluttering.

Hiei, however, is eyeing his soul-twin's new look. "What's this for?" he asks with a jerk of his chin. Yamato, satisfied that the unwelcome guests would not be going back to their—ahem—revelry, turns and stalks with a cat's offended air back up the pathway to his regular duties.

Eyes the color of new pine needles blink at him then clear. "I need to keep my body temperature higher on the standard scale if I'm going to carry to term so I'm tapping into a single portion of my bloodline. I'll have to wait a few days until it can be confirmed, but I doubt any kits would be able to cope with my preferred form. Not to mention that shifting too often will be bad for them."

Yusuke finds a new subject to splutter about, combined with wide eyes and much pointing. "You…you mean you're…you're really…"

"Won't be able to tell for a little bit yet, but we're hoping," Yoko confirms with an even bigger grin, practically beaming at his friends as though he'd just been given the number of how many kits to expect. However, the grin disappears with Hiei's next sly statement.

"You do realize that human custom dictates there should be a wedding somewhere between conception and delivery?"

Both foxes freeze, dismay clear to read in both. Aislin is the first to snap out of it. "But I don't _want_ one!"

"Could always pretend you eloped," offers Yusuke, swallowing his embarrassment to help avoid an event he would not enjoy but would still likely get roped in for. "Just pick up a couple of nice rings and act like that's why you've been gone."

For a moment the pair brightens, then Kurama, abruptly in his human form, droops. "No, it would disappoint Mother."

"And the other girls would make us have one anyway just so they could participate," adds his mate with equal depression. "We're stuck with it."

Hiei's voice is purposefully bland, but mischief gleams in orbs the color of blood-wine. "Add 'wedding' to the list, then, since I've located the Sunstone."

——

"Shkatha, what does my agent report?"

"Milord, the Avalons have successfully bonded with four of the five stones and your agent has yet to be spotted by either the Silver Thief, the Winter Rose, or the Jaganshi."

"What of the fifth stone?"

A shuffling of paper. "Milord, the Sunstone is currently being kept in Ningenkai's Kurayami no Mori, near the residence of the psychic Genkai."

"Do they know where it is?"

"I am informed that they do, milord."

A long, pleased hiss. "Excellent. Continue to watch their progress. Let me know the instant that the bonding ceremony is complete for the fifth stone."

"As you command, milord."

——

"But where are we going to have a wedding that can hold everyone?" comes an unhappy near-wail from a dark-haired woman striding with three other males up a cobblestone path. "Everywhere in Makai will be too dangerous for most of the human guests, and I can't think of _anywhere_ in Ningenkai that can hold everyone from the Lair, everyone in your clan and family, _and_ the people I want to invite!"

"What about a wedding?" chirps a curious voice, a lithe body leaping from the bushes alongside the path. Hiei actually smiles at his beloved as Kohaku shifts back into her human form, sweeping that long length of ponytail over her shoulder.

"Yo, wolf-girl," greets Yusuke, beaming at her. He jerks his thumb over at Kurama and Aislin, his grin turning wicked. "These two are gettin' hitched."

"_Really_?" Kohaku gasps, her face lighting up. Both foxes nod mournfully at her and she whoops, hugging them both hard before running back into the brush, howling at the top of her lungs. More jubilant howls join hers at the news she spreads, as well as several other shrieks and assorted noises, the inhabitants of the forest also choosing to congratulate the pair.

"Oh, I'm going to be so embarrassed when we tell the Lair," Aislin groans, hiding her face in her hands. "They're going to be so much worse."

"What's all the racket about?" demands Genkai when the quartet reaches the top of the temple steps, her wrinkled face creased into a deep frown. "That girl's going to scare all the game away and I'll have to hear everyone's empty stomachs all night."

"Genkai, do you where we can have a wedding that will hold seven hundred plus guests?" Kurama asks a trifle desperately. The faded pink eyebrows rise.

"I might. Why? Are you two bothering to get—" Pale brown eyes focus on the dark-hued Aislin and narrow, and in a voice of doom the psychic declares, "You…are pregnant."

"Oh, so it did work? I'm glad." Aislin looks ridiculously pleased by the news, sharing a smile with her mate. "I'd hate to have had all that effort be for nothing."

"When did you…nevermind. I don't want to know. I don't need you to tell me, your auras are practically screaming it." The psychic beckons them to follow her and slowly walks down the stone-paved path to the main building, Hiei flitting off to go find Kohaku while the other three follow after Genkai. The old woman tosses a wry smile at the foxes, never breaking stride. "So you two need to get married, eh? Human conventions, no doubt."

"No choice," sighs Kurama in correction. "I can't disappoint my human mother and the girls—Yukina excluded, I think—won't let us get away with merely 'eloping'."

"Good point," Genkai concedes. "Do you two have any ideas about places yourself?"

"Well," admits Aislin shyly, "I don't know about koi, but there _is_ a place I was thinking of…I don't think it's big enough, though," she adds in disappointment.

Kurama looks down at her for a moment, confused, before his emerald eyes twinkle. "Church of Redemption?" His beloved's smile says it all.

Genkai makes a thoughtful sound. "If I remember your description of it, the church itself won't hold that many, but you could always have an outdoor wedding." The psychic snags a startled Yukina on their way past the statue the ice apparition was dusting and pulls her gently along. "Yukina, what do you think?"

"About what?" is the blank response. Yusuke chortles in glee: he's enjoying this far more than is probably good for him.

"Kurama and Aislin are getting married."

"Married?"

(("Hand-fasted,")) translates Aislin into Koorime and garnet eyes clear.

"Oh!" Yukina's face is wreathed in smiles. "So you're finally making it official? That's wonderful! Congratulations! Did you consider letting Koenma-sama presiding over the ceremony?"

A shake of the storm-dark head. "No, we hadn't gotten that far yet." The conversation continues while everyone turns into the living room, finds seats according to their preferences, and settles in. "Right now we're trying to figure out a place that can handle everyone without putting most of the human guests at risk."

"An outdoor ceremony would be a lovely idea, though we need to make sure the weather will be clear," muses Yukina, resting a fingertip on her tilted chin in thought. "Perhaps the Blade-arm wolves would oblige."

As though the name of the sister-clan is a summons, four bundles of energy explode into the room, caroling their congratulations with joy and mixing up Wolf with Japanese and several rather silly love ballads they'd heard Kami-only-knows where. Aislin and Kurama are practically buried under armloads of flora, laughing as they shake off bee's balm, roses, daises, strands of morning glory, lilies, ivy, 'church bells', starflower, angelwing, and several other varieties.

In a much calmer fashion, in comes Inazuma and Nadeshiko, each holding a long-stemmed red rose. "Our congratulations, benefactors," the alpha male tells the foxes in his deep baritone, handing Aislin his rose while the female wolf hands Kurama hers. "If you can wait until the wedding, you may have what you seek with no effort, on the condition you don't forget to invite us."

The four younger wolves freeze in dismay. That they might not even get invited hadn't occurred to them. Kohaku relaxes, knowing that since she's a team-mate, the odds that an envelope would end up in her mailbox are good. Takumi, Takara, and Suzume are not so sanguine, however. They whirl to face the startled foxes, voices rising in fervent pleas.

Aislin silences them with a wave of her hand, speaking into the following stillness. "Calm down, please! I wouldn't _dream_ of not inviting you!"

Cheers, and the duo are once again happily glomped, all four pups waltzing out while singing one of the soppiest love songs at the tops of their collective lungs. Genkai sighs into the quiet that they leave, rubbing an ear with a grimace. "This place hasn't been the same since you showed up, Inazuma. Those children will bring the roof down any day."

"They are young and energetic," replies Inazuma, his handsome features bland. "Children do tend to have unholy amounts of energy, Genkai-san."

"Which wears out the rest of us," is the raspy retort.

Kurama enters the conversation again, his face filled with puzzlement. "Inazuma-san, how did _you_ discover that we need the Sunstone?"

Nadeshiko answers instead of her mate. "We intercepted a correspondence from one of your agents that mentioned jewels linked by the same myth and deduced it." A gleam in her smoky blue eyes is echoed by her smile. "We weren't going to give a clan treasure up without a fight, but Jaganshi-san explained the reason behind your collecting of the stones. I think the wedding of the King and Queen of Thieves is a portentous enough occasion to warrant such a gift, don't you?"

The blinding smiles of the foxes answer her, but Kurama thinks a moment before saying, "We might need that gift a bit before the wedding, if we don't hold it soon enough. The curse is permanent come the American New Year."

"Just shy of six months is a short time to plan such an event, Yoko-san," Nadeshiko teases gently. "But if you need it sooner than the wedding, consider it an early gift. But if you don't mind my asking, why have a wedding, anyway? We're youkai, we don't usually bother."

While Aislin turns red, Kurama gives the answer. "It's generally considered poor taste to have a child out of wedlock in the Human World."

Knowing looks pass between the wolf couple. "Ah."

"You're going to have a baby, Aislin-san?" Yukina gives her friend a dazzling smile. "Even more good news! Or would you have a litter, since you and Kurama-san are both part fox?"

"We'll find out eventually," Aislin replies dryly. That brings the conversation back around to the details of the wedding, which continues long into the evening.

——

"Oh, fair princess! I have traveled these many miles, through perilous lands and untold dangers, to return to your side!" Obsidian, in his guise of Haru, drops to one knee before a Zephyr trying her best to keep a straight face over his theatrics. The disguised renard hides his script behind his back as he takes his sister's hand and leaves a featherlight kiss on her knuckles. "My heart rejoices to see you safe!"

It's been nearly a month since the return from Makai, and Obsidian has settled into his human life with surprising agility, almost as if he'd been born a mortal himself. The plans for the wedding of Aislin and Kurama are proceeding nicely, thanks to the plant-manipulating abilities (florist: check) and culinary skills (Gre'ich insisted and no one objected so caterer; check) of those invited.

In fact, the biggest argument so far has occurred over the summer-coated Aislin and her wedding dress. Botan was the one who'd presented the first prototype to her last week: the stones of Reikai Palace are still trembling from the explosion of temper. Needless to say, that frilly atrocity will not be plaguing another store window.

But we're talking about our sweet young renard and his sister, not Aislin. School has let out for the summer break but the twins' homeroom class is putting on a play. And a rather sappy one at that. Half the cast can barely keep from laughing at any time.

Zephyr keeps her own copy of the script tucked behind her in the waistband of her skirt so that her hands remain free for accompanying gestures. "My brave knight," she recites in a sugary voice that has her human friend Eri in silent stitches, gazing with mock adoration into her brother's eyes, "you have done as I asked and retrieved the treasures of the kingdom. Thanks to you, my people are safe, and Father has told me to offer anything you could ask for."

Obsidian leaps to his feet, catching her other hand before pulling them to his chest. "Then I ask only one thing! I wish to be given my world, your hand in marriage!"

A dark-haired girl steps forward, making grand gestures as the final scene plays out behind her in her role of the narrator. "Disaster averted, the peaceful kingdom of Lanalia celebrated the wedding of the courageous knight and their beloved princess, while the thwarted wizard sulked because he didn't even get an invitation to the ceremony. With the treasures once again radiating their spells of safety and shielding over the kingdom, everyone lived happily ever after. Except for the wizard, who was later eaten by a dragon."

Most of the class dissolves into laughter at the comical performance of the 'dark wizard', flailing as the students who would later be stuck into the bulky dragon costume all jump on him, roaring.

The class representative grins and claps his hands, and the performers turn to him expectantly. "Well, boys and girls, and dragon," he adds with a wicked smile, much to everyone's amusement, "we've got three days until showtime and I think we're ready! Eri-san, how're the costumes coming?"

"Finished by tomorrow if I get an early start," the blond girl promises.

The young man grins at her and turns back to the rest of his crew. "You heard her! Tomorrow afternoon, dress rehearsal. Eri-san, grab a couple of the decent sewers to help you out if you need to. Anybody not roped into costume duty, dismissed!"

Obsidian and Zephyr are among those to leave, having proven beyond a doubt that their skills with needle and thread are abysmal. The pair chat happily about the upcoming performance and the complexity of their costumes (finished last week with the kind of ability expected of a professional), basking in the summer heat while they walk to Zephyr's human home.

Kumiko is busy gardening when the two stroll into view down the sidewalk, and she favors Obsidian with a cool smile from beneath her straw hat when he stops at the white-painted gate. "See you tomorrow, angel-girl," he tells his sister with a wink, then bows politely to her mother. "And good afternoon, Uotani-san."

"Hello, boyo."

"Okay, Haru-kun," Zephyr chuckles, pushing him just a little back the way they had come. "I don't need an armed escort to my own front door. I'll see you tomorrow at rehearsal, so don't get into trouble."

He gives her a casual wave, already sauntering up the block to the street that would take him to his current home with Kurama. The story that has been given to the crimson fox's parents is that his home had burned down during the field-trip thanks to the work of an arsonist; there are even fake reports on the progress of the 'case' that are dropped off every week or so, actually written by Obsidian himself. The black renard knows cop-speak quite well since several of the books that had ended up on his little table in that Rekai cell had been Japanese law-books.

So now he lives at the Hatakana home in the guest bedroom, eating meals with his temporary family, fighting over the television with Kurama's step-brother Suiichi, and helping his former boss take care of the back-yard garden. Utterly content with his present situation, Obsidian begins to whistle a popular j-pop song that has been circulating like wildfire.

Then he turns the corner, and shadows jump him.

——

Koenma, once again in his teenaged form, looks up as Japanese oaths echo down the hallway, spoken in a young man's alto-baritone in a similar range to what Kurama sounds like when he's beyond furious. It's a kind of voice the prince has only heard once, when Yusuke died for the second time at the hands of the previous Spirit Detective. And it does not bode well for whoever's holding the curser.

"May the gods take you all! Put me down this damned instant!" A rumpled, pissed darkling male is thrown to the ground before Koenma's desk, bound hand to foot and resembling a spitting cat. Startled, Koenma looks from the sweaty, exertion-red faces of his shadow-stalkers to the violet eyes of the prisoner.

"You appear," the Prince says in a careful tone to the black-clad shadow-youkai who had sworn long ago to serve him unto death, "to have brought me the ragged Avalon."

"Avalon, hell!" swears the young man, straining hard against his rope bonds but unable to snap them. "My name's Shinkai! Haru Shinkai! And those freaks better have a good reason for bringing me here!"

"Drop the act, Avalon, I'm hardly that stupid." Koenma sits back down in his chair and runs weary fingers through lank brown hair. Making a face at the feel of oil, the prince resolves to take a shower in the immediate future. "Show me those golden eyes of yours, renard, I've no patience for pretending today."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Haru shouts, panting where he lays. Beneath the exterior of his human personae, Obsidian is very grateful to Kohaku's friend Luke for cutting his raven hair short again, in the style it was before he'd left for Demon World's Solstice. Long hair such as youkai habitually wear would have given him away in an instant. "The only eyes I've got are purple! And you're crazy!"

"I'm the prince of Reikai as you very well know, Obsidian Avalon," Koenma counters in a level tone, gaze never wavering. "And struggling is vain under the hold of _those_ ropes. You should recognize them from your first capture."

"You're all freaking crazy," states the young man lying cramped on the floor. "What are you guys even on to make you think this stuff? You'd make a fortune on the streets."

One of the Shadows steps forward, steel-grey eyes slightly confused behind the mask hiding the lower half of his face. "My lord, the ropes have not been taking any energy from this boy. It's as if he's already at human levels of soul-strength and they dare not take any more."

That's because Obsidian has his energy shoved so far down into himself it's making him nauseous just holding it there. The ropes, he'd worked out long ago, depend on a series of bodily triggers to indicate the limit of drainage: the nausea, however uncomfortable, works to his advantage as one of those triggers.

Koenma sighs, reaching out and pressing a button on his desk's surface. "Hinata, be so kind as to bring Shikyo and whoever's here that has the best nose."

The invisible speaker crackles before modulating into a female's soft tones. "As you command, Koenma-sama. Please have patience and they will be there shortly."

"Thank you." Koenma returns to his slumped position and continues eyeing the prisoner, who has given up on breaking his bonds and degenerated into muttering curses on all present and everyone in their families, ancestors included. One includes a suggestion to shove several unlikely objects into the incorrect orifice of someone's great-grandmother twice removed. The things only get more creative as the black-haired, amethyst-eyed young man once again works himself up into a frenzy, showing a volatile temper and average human strength.

No strange spirit energy. Not even fangs. To all outward appearances and hearing, the one who claims himself to be no one other than Haru Shinkai is human. But then again that is the reason Koenma sent for his specialists.

After a perfunctory knock on the open door, in padss a tall, slender woman in comfortable white tunic and trews, her long hair the color of midnight oceans a straight curtain to the backs of her knees; by her side strides a male with the tawny, wild hair and amber eyes of a lion youkai. One is Koenma's top psychic, second to none (including Hiei and Aislin), the wind apparition Shikyo. The other is one of Koenma's Hunters, the scarred, unexpectedly-cheerful lion named Kougyoku, called Kou the Topaz Cat. Unlike their mortal counterparts, lion youkai are famous for having even better noses than the wolves, a fact that has stuck in the craw of many a canine.

The innermost thoughts of the prisoner have become a single litany: _'OhbloodyfuckingHELLI'm frigging_**screwed**. Any above that remain in the complicated barrier of 'human' mentality, sometimes called 'a thief castle' to ward against mind-readers such as the blue-eyed woman staring down at him impassively.

Kou is not so silent. "You _stink_, kid. What in the name of the Plains God have _you_ been doing?"

"Practicing a play," mumbles Haru. "Part of it is when the prince, me, gets back from a nasty journey. The smell of the stuff Eri came up with is hard to get off."

"Gold and glory, I'd have to agree. All I can get offa you is human, sweat, sage, seven kinds of mud, sulfur, and some pretty potent herbs. No matter if you're fox or not, ain't nothing gonna smell right offa you for a month. And I pity your poor nose."

Secretly, Obsidian agrees. But 'Haru' can't smell it so much, so he gives the lion a constrained shrug. "I've got some stuff meant for skunk to kill it, mostly, and deodorant takes care of the rest."

Koenma, in the meantime, looks over at Shikyo, who gives him an enigmatic shrug. The boy's mind is human: confusion and fear foremost, with anger at the rude treatment close on the former's heels. Misty, fragmented memories dating back to early childhood: a pudgy hand reaching for a very tall tablecloth, an elfin face looking into a giant mud puddle before a broad smile, a whoop, and a jump. The first skinned knee, falling out of a willow in a play-yard, fights, games, pretty girls that fascinate and repulse at the same time. Finals for junior-high, entrance-exams for Sarayashiki High. A blur of blue landing in outstretched arms.

Nowhere can she find fox, or youkai, or any knowledge of the Spirit World whatsoever. Human, the young man named Haru Shinkai. "It would seem, sire, that the Avalon impersonated this one and took his identity. Nothing indicates that he is the one we seek."

Kou backs her up. "Nothing, boss, not a whiff of musk of any kind. A 'course, that's prob'ly 'cause of the stink, but it might not be."

"Told ya you're a bunch of nutcases." A quick glance at the lion leaning carelessly against the wall. "'Cept maybe him. He's not _near_ bonkers as the rest of you."

A weary, resigned sigh. "Very well, untie him, get him home, do what you need to, I don't care. Shadows, take a break, or pick another city. He's nowhere near Yusuke's territory, it would seem. Spread out, and you're all dismissed. Go away."

All the youkai rest right fists over their hearts and bow in salute and acknowledgement, a snap of a Shadow's fingers unbinding the rope. It unwinds of its own accord and twists itself into a neat coil into the Shadow leader's hand. Kou hoists Haru onto his feet and gives him a sympathetic grin as the youth works feeling back into numbed limbs, tsking over the rope-burns left around his wrists.

"Hold still, kid, I can get those gone." With a snap of claw-tipped fingers in tandem with a muttered spell, the angry red welts fade into healthy skin again.

"…The hell?"

"Just forget it, kid," Kou chuckles as he slings an arm over the shorter youth's shoulders and leads him out the door, Shikyo trailing languidly after. "You won't remember it by the time we get you home, anyway. Now, where's your bunk, eh?"

"I'm staying with a guy named Shuichi Minamino, my tutor, have been since my place burned down during an away-trip for school…" the soothed baritone fades down the hallway, the wronged teen presumably continuing to speak even as he's led towards the portal to the Human World.

Koenma slumps in his chair for a few moments longer before he propels himself to his feet to find that much needed shower. Hell, if he's lucky, maybe he can drown himself and get out of doing even more god-forsaken paperwork while trying to prevent the Apocalypse. Then again, if the Apocalypse does happen, he'd be buried for about a decade by paper but then would have a damned light workload until the Earth repopulated.

He considers that for about a split second while going out another door, then discards it, having worked too hard and too long under the yoke of Light's chosen to ever seriously think about letting the world be destroyed. He'd hate to see all that stress and the worry be for nothing. It would irritate him no end.

"Bath," he only says aloud. "Bath, something decent to eat, some sleep, maybe some exercising. A run around the outside track sounds nice. I spend too much time sitting behind that forsaken desk. I think I miss the days of exile, I didn't have to deal with this kind of mess."

"Talking to yourself is a sign of mental instability, Koenma," Aislin jokes with a distracted air as he goes past her desk, littered with books and papers and her booted feet propped on one corner, the residue of a month's absence. The book she's pretending to read is one of mythologies involving the creation of the Three Worlds, but Koenma spies the pastel cover of what looks suspiciously like a book of baby names peeking over the top. One finger deftly pushes it down out of sight, the prince never breaking stride. Pale green eyes glitter after him in repressed mischief. "Thank you."

"Think about the name 'Joshua'," suggests Koenma with a reviving of his old humor. "I've always been partial to it."

Coral lips part in a fanged smile. "I'll consider it, Koenma."

———————————————————————————

koibito: lover

Kurayami no Mori: the Dark Forest

Starflower: the Makai cousin to the star jasmine, resembles hyacinths more closely in bunching and color, but grows on vines.

Hinata: Sunny place

Kougyoku: Topaz


	17. Chapter 16: Revelations

Despite what appears to be a new rule concerning reviewer responses and the cessation thereof, I have chosen to continue giving my reviewers an incentive and a reward to send me those little messages I love so much. Besides, I offer character interaction within my responses, so there. Also, I have loaded AOL onto my new computer and GASP! I not only can get to my mailbox, but I now have total access to FFNet! I love my Dad and his ever-so-helpful suggestions. n,.,n–♥ Using that to segue into a bit of interesting news: I also have an account at DeviantArt. No pieces up yet, but look for KitsuneEclipse in the future for those pictures I keep talking about.

**Silverwing013**: Hey, I can't get mad at people when I'm behind on reviewing myself, now can I? One thing I try to avoid is hypocrisy, except in the whole cliffhanger issue. Then I just have fun. Obsidian does seem to have all the luck, but I can't tell you why just yet. You'll find out in the actual chapter 18.

**Kitsune Kit**: Kohaku: Gomen, but I have class myself.

Don't scare me like that! For second there I thought you'd seriously been diagnosed as suicidal and I've have to stress about you and all the ways people can find death. I've had at least two people I knew online go that way, and I hate it! _—deep breath—_ Meanwhile, I suggest you hang out with the Gothic crowd if there is one, or some other similar group. They're always the anti-jock folk (I was part of the anime gang at my high school, so I'm talking experience here) and naturally produce pheromones that deter preppie/jock types. Also, see if you can find medication for that foot-in-mouth syndrome of yours.

**Rikka Chishio**: You changed your name _again_? That makes, what? The third or fourth time? I lost count. It was a weblink to a blog or somesuch, go read the reviews if you got confused, I have no idea what thing you were talking about there. Ergo, I will be of no help in that department.

**Asilin Kheldarson**: No, you can't have Obsidian. Knowing you, he'd come back all traumatized or something. Unless it's for a fic, and then I'll think about it.

Obsidian: o.O Eep.

**Magus784**: I'm not mad, and Judo class keeps me in a decent enough mood that I don't bite people's heads off. FFXI? Okay, _that_ I might kill you for, if only to swipe the game and the system needed to play it. I STILL haven't gotten to play VII yet 'cause the discs I was given were used and scratched enough to where I can't get past the save-slots screen. THAT is just torture. By the way, in case you haven't guessed, you now know the answer to the question I never technically asked, which was: should Aislin and Yoko have a child?……Is Joshua seriously your name? Let's hear it for random coincidences!

_—Starling and Shiku wave noisemakers—_

**EarthHeartIdiot**: So many questions, young grasshopper. Fox-girl say: a wise person exercises patience. All is revealed in time—

Starling: Except for a baby shower. Keiko's the only one who's 'girly' enough to want one, but she got outvoted by the rest.

Uh, yeah, pretty much. In the meantime, YES! READ RANMA! It's like the lynchpin of all anime, on par with Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo!

**Fate's Child**: No, actually that _was_ on purpose. It's a manner of speech, not an issue of grammar. Umm, I think that's what I mean. Anyway, I wanted it to be like that, even if it does sound a little odd. It's his way of speaking. _—brightens—_ Ah! _That_ was the phrase I was looking for! So the line remains unchanged. Thank you, though, I really do appreciate having reviewers out there who are willing to correct me on mistakes.

**Luna's Lady Love**: It's pretty simple, actually. 'Haru' _is_ being tutored by Aislin and Kurama, yes? Just have the friend-relationship become obvious enough that it would be a no-brainer that 'Haru' gets invited to the wedding. Besides, like I say in the chapters involving the wedding, if Koenma even _tries_ to arrest him the child prince will have to deal with well over four hundred people's strenuous objections. Namely, those of the Lair and the Pridesholt mercenaries.

**Darknesspirals**: I don't like babies either, personally. No, wait, I take that back. I like _other people's_ babies when they're smiling or quiet. Working at Albertson's for a while made me come up with a defensive mechanism: give crying babies the wide-eyed, smiling look and ask what's the matter. Nine times out of ten, they stopped crying/bawling and just gave me the wide-eyed look back. Thank god I don't have children of my own. As for the temple folk? Um, yeah, things got kinda…_itchy_ for a while.

————————————————————————————————————

Kurama is filled with a feeling of satisfaction, a cheerful whistle trailing behind him as he glides up the front walk to his home, looking forward to a good session of gardening now that his birthday-present to Aislin is finished. All it needs is a little more growing time…

The front door bangs open, his step-brother Suiichi hanging out the doorway, fright pinching his face into a white mask. "Bro! It's about time you got home! Mom and Dad took Haru to the hospital! I found him in the backyard by the koi pond, out cold!"

Satisfaction turns to fear in a heartbeat, his graceful hand catching the keys his step-brother flings at him before sprinting to the small sports-car his step-father had bought him for his birthday in April. His wallet containing his driver's license is hard on the heels of his keys, and Suiichi slides into the passenger seat just as Kurama takes the wheel.

It takes ten minutes of near-reckless driving to reach the hospital that Suiichi directs him to, and the red-head sprints inside while the human teen gets his land-legs back. Damn, but he'd never known Shuichi could drive like that! It was like being in a movie! Surprised that no patrol car had pulled them over, Suiichi heads inside.

He finds his step-brother standing behind his step-mother and his father, a doctor in a white lab-coat looking very puzzled as he glances from clip-board to people. "…Darndest thing, Mr. and Mrs. Hatakana," the doctor is saying as Suiichi puffs up. Four fricken flights of stairs. Never bloody again. "There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with him. Tests indicate he doesn't have a concussion, his brain-waves are normal, there's been no trauma of any kind to any part of his body. We'll have to wait a little longer for the blood-tests, but I have a feeling that nothing will be wrong with those, either."

_There won't be,_ Kurama vows in his head, _after I'm finished altering them. We've come this far, my pupil will not have his identity compromised._

_/No worries, fox/_ interjects Hiei on a smooth telepathic thread. _/I'm already switching the sample with a suitable replacement from overseas. The security of this place is severely lacking and your shields aren't exactly superior at the moment./_

Kurama takes the unsubtle hint and restores his mental shields. Breathing a sigh of relief that he pretends for the sake of his parents is solely for the doctor's words of encouragement, Kurama looks at the door behind them. "Is he allowed visitors?"

"I have no objections," the older man replies, pushing back ebony hair shot through with silver, "and it would reassure him to wake to friendly faces. Go on in."

Kurama has already vanished inside. The adults go to fill out some necessary-but-dull paperwork, so Suiichi chooses to follow after his step-brother into the room reeking of disinfectant. "—work, for certain," he hears just as he walks inside. One of the red-head's slender hands rests on the pale forehead, its equally-pale owner lying still on the white sheets.

"What'd you say, bro?" Suiichi questions with his head tilted. The other jumps and snatches his hand away from Haru's forehead, startled by his step-brother's silent entrance.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," scolds Kurama, running shaky fingers through his mane. "You're as bad as a cat sometimes, I swear!"

"You mean as bad as you sometimes, right?" the human boy snorts, unfazed. "You sneak up on Aislin-nee-san all the time."

"That's different; she's my girlfriend."

"Yeah, right." Suiichi takes a seat on one of the hard plastic chairs by the window. "I'm not as spacey as our folks, Shuichi, I know something's up. You're hiding something, and it's got something to do with that little ring you've been wearing on a chain under your shirt."

Kurama freezes, taken aback by the unexpected and very sharp observation from his human brother. "How'd you…"

"Come on, Shuichi, if you want to hide it, stop playing with the thing," retorts the brown-haired boy. "Every time you think no one's watching, you're tugging at the chain. What's it for, anyway?"

A broad grin cracks the worry that had turned his eyes glacial. "That's a secret you'll all be finding out about soon enough. In the meantime, let's concentrate on Haru, here."

"Haru where?" rasps a voice from the bed. Bloodshot violet eyes crack open and shut again at the bright overhead lights. Kurama leans over, supporting his weight with a hand by his charge's shoulder. Combined with the tumble of crimson hair, it provides enough shadow to enable Haru to open his eyes.

"Do you remember anything, winsome kit?" he murmurs, concern welling in his emerald eyes. In the violet ones below him, pain wars with confusion at the strange surroundings.

"Walking angel-girl home."

"Past that?" prods the fox, and is answered by a grimace of negation. Bitter knowledge surges into Kurama's face, quickly hidden by his human mask. Covering the violet eyes that flicker now to gold and back again, the changeling straightens and looks over at the human boy sitting on the edge of the orange plastic chair. "Suiichi," he says softly, "could you go ask a nurse for some water? Haru-san says he's thirsty."

"On it!" And the boy arrows out of his chair in an instant. The second Suiichi is gone, Kurama once again leans over.

"You're in a human hospital, but don't worry," the older renard soothes in his whisper-soft baritone. "We've got everything covered. My step-brother found you in the backyard unconscious not too long ago. I expect you were caught by one of the toddler's groups and succeeded in fooling them into thinking you human, which means that you had the experience wiped from your memory."

"'M fine?"

"You will be, once I get one of my teas into you to help with the back-lash headache," comes the sorely needed reassurance. "Judging by the style, I'd have to say the Wind of Death did it, and if you passed her inspection you can trick any mind-reader from here on in. Well done, winsome kit."

A weaker version of the black renard's dazzling smile blooms at the unexpected praise from one of his idols, remaining in place even when the doctor bustles in with Shiori and her husband in tow, Suiichi coming in a few moments later with a pitcher of water and a stack of plastic cups. "The nurse said everyone probably needs a drink, since she saw you an' me running up the stairs," the younger boy explains to Kurama, who'd stepped aside the moment the doctor had come in.

——

In the end, Obsidian's blackout was dismissed as a severe 'dazzle-headache' and he was sent home with a bottle of nasty-looking (and smelling) medicine that is supposed to help with the pain if he gets another. While Shiori tucks the unsteady fox into his bed, Kurama brews up one of his special teas designed for mind-intrusions, setting the bottle of medicine on the tea-tray in a false intention of adding it to Obsidian's cup. Not happening: not only do the energy-infused concoctions he makes work better than ninety-nine percent of human medicines, they taste better by a serious long-shot.

Hiei shows up by window a short time later to add his aid, using his own telepathic abilities to smooth away the miniscule tears caused by Shikyo's hurried task that are causing a majority of the burning sensation. Then the fire apparition departs before Koenma's usual scan can detect him where he shouldn't be.

Not long after that, Aislin rushes in to find her beloved sitting on a chair beside Obsidian's bed, reading him his Literature homework while the black-haired boy sits and listens, sipping at his tea. "Hiei said he saw you racing out so I called and no one was home. I came as fast as I could so you better tell me what happened before I break your head, koi."

"Not so loud," chides Kurama, setting the book aside. "I'm sure Haru's head is trying to split as it is."

"Feeling better," offers their pupil, going back to hiding behind his teacup.

Apologetic, the ice apparition goes and sits on the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. "Okay. Please explain."

"Haru seems to have had something called a 'dazzle-headache'; nothing serious and certainly not life-threatening." _/He was captured by the toddler's other hunters and taken to the Palace. Somehow he managed to trick everyone, by luck and skill, that he was human and named Haru Shinkai. The technique indicates that the Wind of Death was the one who erased the memory and she was a shade careless./_

"And you'll be all right, ne, Haru?" Aislin inquires with real concern, her cat-green eyes gazing up at her taller pupil. _/Has her work been detailed/_

"I'll be fine, Aislin-san, really I will." _/Hiei stopped by and fixed most of it, but I still don't remember anything after dropping Ivory off./_

"I'm glad to hear that, Haru-kun." And she smiles to show she means it, but sorrow lingers behind the cheer. _/You won't. She's stronger than us in telepathy and when she blanks a memory, it stays _gone_. I'm afraid you won't be getting it back./_ "You're too much of a sweetheart to be hurting, and I don't want to set off your fan-club. They're still miffed because Zephyr-chan got the role of princess in that play you keep telling us about."

"Thank the gods," comes the fervent mutter into his drink. "They still look like they can't decide between ripping my clothes off or eating me."

"True, that," sighs both of the older foxes. They, too, have the unpleasant experience of having a near-fanatical fan-club, one each, back at their high school—though since Aislin had only arrived a couple of years ago, she's had to deal with it less. Kurama had been stuck with one since junior high; when girls finally realized that boys weren't just walking cooties and started trying to attract them.

"If you're going to be all right, Haru-kun," Aislin sighs, rising and ruffling his hair, "I'd better get back to work before the boss goes ballistic. You keep an eye on him, koi."

"I already am," protests the red-head as his beloved walks out the door. "Not that you particularly need watching," he adds to Obsidian, once more picking up the Literature book to resume reading. Obsidian's reply is muttered into his tea, allowing Kurama to pretend that he didn't hear it.

——

Four days later, the crimson fox is a bundle of nerves, all of them stretched very thin indeed. The wedding plans are going fine, Obsidian seems to have been dropped off of Koenma's radar for the time being, and Ivory—Zephyr, he corrects himself—is doing fine as well, both the kits having performed flawlessly last night to a standing ovation from the audience. The play was so popular that there will be an encore performance tomorrow night, as everyone is using today as a breather.

But that isn't what has him nervous, oh, no. What has him nervous is that tonight he'll be revealing his engagement…and the fact that he's been leading a double life since he was born here. That is what has him pacing in a quiet corner of Genkai's forest, gnawing lightly on his knuckles.

All of a sudden a tanned hand comes out of nowhere and grabs his wrist, pulling his abused hand away from his teeth. Startled, unfocused eyes blink at Kohaku, using her training as rain-caller/healer to literally wash the self-inflicted wounds away. "Damn, Kurama, you're wound tighter than the strings on Ally's guitar. Take a trank and cool it before you really hurt yourself."

"You don't understand," Kurama growls, pulling his hand away to resume pacing. "My entire existence as Shuichi hangs on how things go tonight."

"And what you refuse to say," Kohaku fills in, in her uncanny way of reading between the lines of written and spoken speech, "is that you're petrified that your human family with reject you as a monster. Specifically, you're scared to death that your human _mother_ will no longer love you."

"YES!" Kurama roars, startling a flock of birds into arrowing flight. "YES, damn it! I admit it! Happy now?"

In response, a miniature cloud dumps a bucketful of cold water on him while Kohaku looks on. "Calm down, baka. You're being dense. Shiori's a good mom, and good moms don't just stop loving their children just because those children turn out to be something they don't expect. You're freaking for nothing."

"Easy for you to say, wolf-girl," comes the growl as the fox resumes his pacing. "You're not doing this."

"No, I'm not," she agrees readily. "So I don't have the emotional stakes you're playing on. But Wolf-god, Kurama, you're still acting like an idiot." She dodges the anger-fueled lash of a rose-whip with the ease of practice. "Instead of freaking and thinking how bad things can go, do a mental one-eighty and think of how _well_ things can go. For all you know, your family's been keeping their own secrets about the other worlds."

"And the moon is made of freeze-dried slug-demon." A pained laugh. "Besides, I've tried that already. It stopped working when I was eleven."

Despite herself, one chocolate eyebrow rises. "Wow. You _seriously_ have over-thought this. I'm going to go see if Aislin's got anything to chill you out for a couple of hours until tonight. You stay put and try not to damage yourself any farther."

"Har, har," follows her in a sarcastic fashion while she exits the clearing.

Somehow, Kurama manages to survive until nightfall, even going through the planned, formal-attire dinner he'd had scheduled last month at one of the best restaurants in town. (The owner is a pro-human dragon-youkai who loves human-made cuisine and has hired some of the most skilled chefs in the world—who also owed the fox a favor from the old days.)

Aislin was a large help, mostly because her appearance kept Kurama distracted for most of the meal. He'd dressed in a tuxedo like his step-father and step-brother, his mother in an old-fashioned kimono. Aislin, however, was garbed in a pewter strapless gown with a full skirt, made from silk and velvet. Around her neck was Kuronue's old pendant—Luke had yet to ask for it 'back'—and diamond drops glittered in her ears against her dappled-grey braid.

Kurama's only jewelry was the Tear of the Rose in his left earlobe, which in youkai terms signified that he was unavailable, not what his sexual preference was.

Now, though, the family has returned to their home with Aislin accompanying them, mostly as Kurama's emotional support and to reveal her own part in this. Everyone has changed back into regular clothes, Suiichi sticking close to his step-brother since his 'excitement alert' is clanging red alarms in his head. He knows that whatever's going to happen, it's going to be _huge._

Finally, though, everyone is in the living room awaiting the revelation of whatever has the couple keyed up. Shiori sits with her husband on the couch; Suiichi has the armchair. Kurama and Aislin are standing, just a yard or so away from the door if it goes very, very badly.

Kurama takes a deep breath, Aislin squeezing his hand lovingly. "Mother, everyone, I have an announcement to make."

"Actually," says the vixen softly, "we have several, though a couple have to wait until we see how you take the first one."

"Well, dear, don't keep us waiting," Shiori prompts gently, wondering why her son looks as though he's getting ready to bolt out the door.

Another deep breath and Kurama spills his greatest secret. "I'm a kitsune."

In the following silence, "I as well."

Seeing that none of the three humans seems to be taking the announcement seriously, Kurama lets out a pained sigh and shifts. His mother gasps and the other two stare at the near-seven foot man abruptly standing in their living room, platinum tail lashing from nerves.

After several very long eternities/moments, Shiori rises from the couch and slowly walks over to her son, eyes wide. She crooks her finger in a gesture for him to bend down, and he does so, closing his eyes. A few moments later he feels gentle tugging on his ears.

Wonderment. "Are these actually real?" Tug. Tug. He suppresses a giggle born of hysteria.

"Yes, they're quite real, so please don't yank." Kurama's step-father jumps at the deeper voice coming from that graceful throat, eyes locked on the fangs moving in the silver fox's mouth. Kurama cracks one golden eye open when the gentle tugging pauses, to find his mother looking over at Aislin.

"Dear, you said you were a kitsune, too." A playful smile. "So where are _your_ ears?"

"Ah," Aislin squeaks, surprised at how well the woman seems to be taking this, "there's a reason I'm not shifting and it's part of the other announcements."

"Bro, you're a _fox_."

"I'd noticed."

"No, man, you're a _fox_! A total stud! A—what was that word the girls use?—a 'beefcake'! Advertising companies would brawl each other to have you as a model! Geez, no wonder you've got girls trying to jump you all the time!"

"They'd try," mutters Aislin possessively, "but they lay so much as a hand on _my_ Yoko and I'll put their pretty faces in the dirt, Inari help me."

Hatakana finally breaks his silence with a quiet observation. "You still _sound_ like Aislin."

A soft laugh. "That's because I haven't gone through the same problems as Yoko, here. My body is still my original."

Shiori sits back down beside her husband, a pleased smile lighting her features with a soft glow. Warily, the foxes do the same on the other couch, some of their tension melting away. "It sounds like you've got quite a long story, Shuichi-kun," the human woman chuckles, "or should I call you 'Yoko-kun'?"

"Actually," admits the renard, "I use 'Kurama' these days, but I'd prefer it if you continued calling me 'Shuichi'."

"Creatures of habit that we are, it would seem strange to us if you called him anything else," puts in Aislin, making Shiori chuckle again.

"All right, then, dears. Why don't you tell us some of the story I smell waiting?"

"Better make yourselves comfortable, then," advise the foxes. "It's a _very_ long story."

It's almost one o' clock in the morning by the time Kurama and Aislin finish giving their family a royally-abridged version of their lives, including the events that led to the existence of Shuichi Minamino, and they trail off at the end, waiting for whatever might come afterward.

Suiichi's reaction reassures and deals a little damage to their pride: he'd fallen asleep about an hour ago, sprawled over his chair in the way that only young teens and cats seem to manage. The adults had listened intently to the whole thing, expressions varying only in response to the emotions behind the words.

Kurama finishes the tale with a very edgy, "And you're all taking this remarkably well. When's the part where you start chasing us with holy and/or sharp objects?"

Shiori starts laughing then, leaving her husband to give his own part of the answer. "I've been interested in the supernatural since I was in college, Shuichi. You're a shock, but I'm not going to try to kill you or anything. From your story, you've been who you are all along. You're just letting us see behind the mask I've sensed you wearing."

_/I told you he might be a sensitive./_

_/Must you start in on I-told-you-so's _now_, aisuhana/_

Kurama's mother chooses that time to get her laughter under control, smiling at her son in a particularly wicked fashion. "Dear, you honestly don't think you managed to keep it all a secret, do you?"

Taken aback, golden eyes blink at her. "Uh, actually…"

Shiori's eyes dance while she corrects his assumptions. "I've told you that you talk in your sleep. I've known about 'Yoko', Kuronue, and 'aisuhana' for years. It's just tonight that a number of the pieces were filled in. I must say, though," and here her eyes take on the kind of pride only mothers can have for especially fine sons, "I didn't think your other self would look quite so handsome. You must've beaten girls off with sticks before you met Aislin-chan."

"Literally," mutters the ice-fox, adding, "After that it was my delightful job to do it for him."

Suiichi, who'd woken at his step-mother's laughter, catches that near-silent comment and grins. Yeah, that sounds about right. "Bro, I just think you're seriously cool. Too bad I can't tell the guys at school about this, it'd shut them up about you once and for all."

_/Koibito, I really must say it. I told you so./_

_/All right, all right, you win as usual. Thank Inari./_

"So!" Shiori brings the foxes' attention back to her with a jerk. "You said you had other announcements! Are you going to tell us or are you going to just keep them a secret?"

Broad smiles light up the jeweled eyes as the conversation turns to very glad tidings indeed, and much more comfortable subjects. "You'll love these ones," Aislin laughs, as Kurama wraps a possessive arm around her shoulders. "We're getting married."

Glad chaos for the next ten minutes, followed by an interrogation about details. Shiori is mildly indignant that nothing was put past her, first, but brightens again when Aislin suggests that maybe the human woman's good sense can get the girls to pick a dress that isn't frilly, frothy, or gods above, _pink_.

Suiichi pokes Kurama's shoulder while the females of the family go off into a wedding-related conversation. "What's the rest of it, bro? Anything good?"

That prideful, merry, utterly _Yoko_ smile spreads across the tanned face as silver ears tilt crazily. "You might say that, 'Uncle' Suiichi."

Pause. Eyes widen. "I'm a _what_?"

"Going to be an uncle," Aislin confirms before she's glomped by a crowing Shiori, who suddenly understands why her new daughter-in-law didn't show off her ears or even a tail, having done a lot of research on kitsune myths for a paper in college. "Come next summer."

By the time everyone seeks their respective beds, the clock on the VCR reads nearly three in the morning. Kurama and Aislin have promised to give a fuller tale when time permits, and now take refuge in the green-scented haven of Kurama's room—though not without knowing smiles given to them by Shiori and her husband. Snuggling beneath the light cotton blanket with his mate, the ruby fox marvels that while the tables were effectively turned on him, they were done so in a pleasant fashion and without any disturbing side effects—so far.

Aislin is a gentle warmth against him—which he still hasn't gotten used to, accustomed to having cool skin meet his touch no matter the season when she's in his embrace—and her eyes glow with a faint luminescence in the darkness. "That went well, koibito."

"It did," he admits with no little relief. "Mother's reaction was the most interesting, I think. She's thrilled, you know. I don't think she can wait to have our children running about."

"She'll make a wonderful grandmother, even if she is a little young for it."

"I doubt she cares about her age, beloved."

"No, I imagine she doesn't." That statement is flavored with laughter, apple-green eyes glowing a little brighter. "Now all we have to do is send out invitations to your human family and choose where and when we're having the ceremony."

Out of nowhere, a thought strikes her mate, as they sometimes do: no warning and with no logic behind them whatsoever. Aislin's face turns puzzled at the stunned expression frozen on Kurama's face. Her lifted eyebrows prompt him for an explanation when he cuddles her closer with a growing smile.

"Koi, what about _your_ human relatives?"

——

Two days later:

"Hey, Kurama, where's Aislin?"

"Oh, she's checking up on a missed detail, Yusuke."

——

It's nearing a false-dusk in a sky that rains bitter cold on the highlands of Eire by the time a cloaked figure reaches the gate of a small, ancient castle nestled among the heather and grasses flattened by the downpour. Face in shadow, a small hand reaches up and bangs once, twice, three times on the heavy wood.

Within, the middle-aged woman tending a white-haired grandmother looks up at the sound that echoes through the building. The muffled sounds of her son and grandson playing pool a couple rooms down cease as the boy's light footsteps patter by, racing for the door.

"Morgan, who be at the door?" queries the old woman wrapped in shawls and blankets against the damp despite the fact that a space-heater is going full blast in the corner of the modernized room.

"Ah don't know," the middle-aged woman half-shouts into the elder's ear. "Brandon's gone tae see."

"Grandma Morgan!" pipes a young tenor on the intercom, "there's a lady here coom tae see us! Th' door's stuck."

"Oh, saints preserve us," sighs the auburn-haired woman, rising from her half-crouch only for a baritone to crackle through the speaker.

"Don't worry, mamaith. Ah'll go help Brandon."

"Bless ye, Mike-hon," Morgan replies by intercom. "'Tis a nasty night tae be oot in th' dark."

Below, the guest waits patiently outside, hood turned into the pouring rain as the cloaked shoulders rise and fall in deep breaths. "So this is what Ireland smells like," a sweet contralto says in English, almost unheard over the thunder of water on stone. "Inari, but it's soaked with the scent of magic."

Her musing is interrupted by the squeaking of the doors' hinges, one panel pulling back just enough for her to slip it. A man with mahogany-brown hair shoves it shut again with a grunt of exertion, a young boy with bright red hair regarding her with solemn green eyes. The man's eyes, too, are the same shade of candy-apple green, flecked with caramel chips in a surprising star-like ring around the pupils.

"Mah apologies fer no' gettin' the door any faster," the man says in a light brogue, extending his hand in welcome. "'Tis a bit o' a walk from upstairs. Ah'm Michael Moors."

Graceful hands push the cloak's hood back, revealing storm-cloud hair and cat-green eyes before one of those hands clasps his. "It's a pleasure, indeed, cousin, to finally meet you. I'm Aislin Moors."

"You're pretty," blurts the young boy before he bolts off on coltish legs. Michael shakes his head in amusement, jerking his head in the direction the boy had run.

"That's mah son, Brandon. Six years old this fall, he'll be, and all the mischief o' a kelpie wit' nae o' the intent."

"Pleasure to meet him, too," chuckles his guest, turning her head to study her surroundings. "I didn't expect the ancestral home to be quite so large, though."

"It seems no wee bit smaller when the rest o' th' family's here," assures the man as he leads Aislin upstairs to meet his mother and grandmother. "Right noo' they're mostly down in th' barns, taking care o' th' sheep. Ewes are lambin', an' we've had no few gone missin' come a mornin'."

"Fair Folk, you think?"

"Eh." A shoulder-roll that substitutes for a shrug. "A few thieves thinkin' to get themselves a wee bit richer, belike. The Moors hae been on good terms wit' the Fair Folk since Brian Moors, aboot a t'ousand years gone."

_I can't imagine why,_ thinks Aislin in high amusement. Having someone with fae blood in your family generally sweetens the tempers of the worst Faeries. But she keeps her thoughts to herself until Michael ushers her into a well-heated room, hanging her cloak on a peg by the door. Apparently the room is always this hot, to require removal of extra layers before entry.

Her eyes are drawn to the tiny woman sitting in a rocker by the fire, half-asleep and almost buried beneath lap-blankets and shawls, the thinned waves of hair still tumbling over crochet-covered shoulders pure, translucent white. Then they move to the slender, fifty-something woman sitting nearby with a book in hand, reading aloud in Gaelic. The recitation ceases at the entrance of Aislin, brown eyes widening a bit at the unusual garb of their guest.

A cambric shirt dyed pale blue is worn over heavy brown pants, mud-splattered boots encasing her feet and legs to the knee. Black leather circles her hips as a slender belt, the buckle a Celtic knot shining burnished gold. Jeweled eyes study back, storm-dark hair caught up in a loose braid.

"Ah expected ye tae be a wee bit taller," says Morgan in startlement, then claps her hand over her mouth. "Ah! I've done it again! Mah apologies, lass, but me mouth has a way o' runnin' withoot me."

"I understand," comes the reassurance. "I think it may run in the family."

"Height or tactlessness?" queries the elder from her rocker, snapping awake to pin their guest with sky-blue eyes. Those eyes widen at the specter before her. "By th' Star-walker himself! 'Tis a ghost Ah'm seein'!"

"No, Granny Nia, I'm not a ghost, I'm Aislin Moors." Inwardly, though, the vixen winces. This one must've been walking the edge of Spirit World for a while if she sees something besides the lovely human disguise Aislin projects.

"Speak up, lass! Ah cannae hear ya!" Aislin chooses to use a touch of telepathy instead, reinforcing her words and keeping to the same volume. The old woman smiles at her. "Someone who knows how tae talk, at last! None o' th' usual mumblin's," Nia declares, thumping the arm of her chair soundly. "But ye, lass," and now a wrinkled, thin finger is leveled at the startled Aislin, "look just like th' woman me faither described in his stories o' Brian an' th' Wee Folk. An ye've got the shine."

"Mamaith," Morgan shouts from her chair, "half the family's got th' 'shine'! Ye really expected her tae be different?"

"Brian and the Wee Folk?" Aislin asks Michael, who shrugs.

"Th' reason that th' Fair Ones 'round 'ere leave us be is Brian Moors laid wit' a Sidhe in his wilder days as a child o' th' moors and is from anaether such tryst; 'tis why our name is such."

"I didn't know that." _I can't believe they remember the liaison between Father and Mother all those years ago. I'll be damned._

Her curiosity is aroused when Michael mutters an oath and scrambles for his belt, yanking what looks like a cell-phone from a pouch there and snapping it open. "Aye?" he barks into it, and his face grows only grimmer while the person on the other end talks. At a very high speed, Aislin notes with a lifted eyebrow. Her host snaps out what sounds like orders in Gaelic, whirling on his heel to stalk for the door. "Herd o' horses hae gone an' attacked th' lambin' barn," he explains shortly, and finds his guest by his side.

She sticks with him into the hallway, swirling her damp cloak around her shoulders with a determined air. When Michael opens his mouth to speak, she silences him with a look. "Don't even think about suggesting I don't go. For all I know this problem might be my fault."

"An' why do ye sae that?"

"What kind of horse attacks anything in a rainstorm that doesn't have claws and teeth?"

———————————————————————————

Damn, writing in proper Irish brogue is a lot harder than the people who scripted Jin made it look. Good thing I'm so stubborn.


	18. Chapter 17: Plans and Plots

Dear gods, this is the first time I've been on the net for over two bloody months. Once again, my poor luck with electronics reared up and bit me in the ass even worse than usual. My computer died in a spectacular fashion, though not before I was able to back up everything on CD. Thank the gods. And thank my Dad, for getting rid of that hell-forsaken DSL. Huzzah for cable!**  
**

**Rikka Chishio:** Glomping is allowed if you can catch him. And yes, the wedding's going to be spiffy!

**Kitsune Kit:** Good, I'm glad you survived. You're one of my most loyal reviewers and you keep my characters on their toes. Also, c'mon, it's _Aislin's_ family we're talking here. They're Irish. You expected them to be mundane and boring?

**Magus784:** Eh, nevermind, then, I don't play on the comp. It was fun writing that chapter, 'specially since Yoko got the Inu Yasha treatment with his ears. You notice no one ever tugs on his ears? Maybe because Yoko is seven feet of potentially-deadly demon, and Inu Yasha's a little more people friendly? Interesting puzzle, that. To answer your question, the 'horses' are attacking the lambing barn. Not something attacking them.

**Silverwing013: **No, I'm not telling. Being an evil writer is one of the few joys I have time left for these days. Damned full-time job and school eating whole day… My comp is mostly behaving itself. Giving me the sites I want, but it sometimes doesn't want to shut off for no apparent reason. Just sits there with the 'shutting down' screen for ages. Oh, well. Pulling the plug works just as well, even if it does make the comp-savvy folk out there cringe.

**Aisilin Kheldarson: **No, no Obsidian for you. _—Obsidian sighs in relief—_ I didn't want to go for the whole 'freak out' take on Yoko revealing his identity, it would have ruined the whole story. But having them take it like it was nothing was no good either. So why not have his folks be sensitives, if not psychics? 'Cause you know moms are a little bit psychic when it comes to their children, the good ones, anyway. Wish granted on the Moors!

**EarthHeartIdiot:** Yeah, I love Jin. I have a folder for pics devoted 'specially for him on my drive.

**Darknesspirals: **That's okay, I've been delayed in updating. Thanks for the comment on the brogue, it really is a btch to write.

**Seeyu:** Welcome back! _--glomps--_ I missed you!

——————————————————————————————

Aislin made a good guess, because she's never seen this kind of horse before at all on this side of Ningenkai. If it weren't for her demonic vision, she would never have been able to see the herd of ten-strong equines galloping in pitch-black coats around the barn. She suspects the only thing keeping these glowing-eyed beasts off the place is all the Cold Iron contained within.

Michael swears and reaches for the rifle slung on his back beneath his own coat, but an upraised hand stops him. "Hold that for last, cousin," Aislin shouts over the downpour. "And don't be afraid of what you might see."

Leaving him to chew on that cryptic statement, Aislin strides closer, the hem of her cloak fluttering like the trailing edges of wings. A fleeting thought summons energy to her palms, forming two very bright faerie-lamps that hiss under the rain. The herd of phuka mill to a halt, peering at her suspiciously from beneath soaked forelocks with ruby red eyes. An image of Hiei briefly imposes itself over the head stallion, summoning a trace of a smile to her lips. Then she banishes the smile, confronting her faerie kin with fists resting on her hips.

"I should think that's quite enough roughhousing here, you lot," she informs them in no uncertain tone, and is answered by an angry neigh that hardly needs translation. "Because I told you so, that's why. You're scaring my family and likely terrifying the livestock. Shoo."

(("And who are ye tae tell us 'begone', woman?")) shouts the stallion, rearing and pawing at air.

Switching over to Equine, Aislin calmly informs him, (("I am the daughter of Brian Moors and the ice-maiden Frostflower. And you dare interrupt my meeting with my kin? I should shatter you where you stand, you impudent colt."))

(("Ye lie!")) several of the herd whinny, stamping the already-abused grass. (("That tryst bore nae children!"))

(("So you're saying I don't exist?")) A graceful, one-handed sweep settles the hilt of an ice-blade in her palm, glimmering with energy in the darkness. (("How very rude. Come, foolish foals, try my strength and count yourselves fortunate that I don't use the Death-metal."))

Michael is standing there completely floored as his long-lost cousin stands there with a magical weapon in her hands, conversing in whinnies and neighs with the phuka trying to break into the lambing barn. And her attitude of challenge compared to the equine disbelief is clear. It's his own fae blood, however diluted and faded, that allows him to see the dark bodies gathering in a tight bunch before the wool clad woman.

Then the world tips upside down even farther when a tall man in the garb of a Highland warrior steps out of nothing, limned in rich green light the color of moss. There's no mistaking the shaggy brown hair braided into a thick club down his back, nor the neatly-trimmed beard. Least of all, the aqua blue eyes shining with their own inner fire and the delicately pointed ears half-hidden under the thick hair.

/"Are you all daft?"/ Brian of the Moors demands in Gaelic of the pooka, striding up to the herd as though the water pouring down isn't even there. /"Ya know bloody well you're noo supposed tae attack me family, ya blasted nags!"/

The breathy, dismayed nicker that the stallion makes is all too easy to translate, even for Michael. (("Crap."))

/"Get yer black asses back tae th' sithen, ya sorry lot, afore Ah choose tae _put_ 'em there! Move!"/

With understandable alacrity, the whole herd of rampaging pooka flee back through a portal glimmering a pale pearl in the half-light, while the tall warrior turns back to face down the slender woman blinking up at him with utter shock. /"And what're _ye_ starin' at, lassie?"/

In response, the petite Aislin pulls her hood back and lets the rain soak into her hair, her own green eyes alight with amazement. And then she answers in perfect, accentless Gaelic. /"I'm looking at someone I never thought I'd get to meet on this side of Death's River. It's…something of a shock."/

Puzzlement creasing the rugged face, Brian of the Moors steps closer, eyes still glowing with that strange radiance. When the elfin features come into focus for him in the hissing lights, wonder replaces the confusion. /"Blessed gods, will ya looka this? 'Tis me love, starin' from anaether's eyes."/ His broad hand tilts her chin up while he drops to one knee, gently turning her face this way and that. /"What's yer name, lassie?"/

/"I'm Aislin Moors, and I'm absolutely delighted to get to meet you, father."/

"Excuse me, but Ah'm feelin' a wee bit left out, here," Michael puts in weakly, feeling the storm begin to fade above them. The other two look over at him in bemusement, as though they'd forgotten he was there. "Someone be sae kind as tae tell me what's goin' on?"

"If Father would be so kind as to tell me why he's still quite alive?" Aislin counters, arching her eyebrows at the grinning man beside her.

/"Mayhaps we should gae intae th' barn,"/ Brian suggests merrily, jerking a soaked head at the building behind them. /"Scare the rest o' th' family while Ah'm a' it?"/

"I think I've discovered where my own sense of humor came from," Aislin comments in a rather dry voice as she and Brian steer their numb relation towards the barn. "But I would like an answer to my question, Father."

/"Ach, lass, ye go' most o' yer mixed blood frae me, aye? Ah'm more fae than human, sae why should Ah die frae ol' age?"/

"Father, you're a sneaky bastard, you do know that?"

Comfortable amusement. /"Noo' accordin' tae me own maither, I'll thank ye tae remember."/

"I suppose she's alive as well?" Aislin sighs over the creak of the door set into the large gate opening. Behind them, her faerie-lights wink out of existence, her ice-blade forgotten to melt away in the grass. Her inquiry sparks a growth of that merry smile into a broad grin.

/"Nae, nae, long intae dust, Ah'm afraid. Ol' wolf died in a battle she chose tae lose outta pure boredom."/

"I'm beginning to realize where I inherited most of my habits," mutters the ice-fox, practically unheard through the numerous shrieks of fear or startlement voiced by over twenty people as children are snatched into protective arms. "Oh, for the love of all that's holy, you pack of superstitious Celts! There is no one dead among us and no one with the intent to harm, so kindly lower your blasted volume!"

/"Inherited _her_ temper, ye did."/

So the next few hours are spent in explanations, mostly on the part of Brian with some remaining for Aislin to take care of. It turns out, after the tryst with the ice-maiden Frostflower, the Celtic man had decided that life Above-Hill had gotten too boring, so he'd dumped his castle and his other inheritances on his brother Sean, and had gone whistling off Under-hill to go whack some manners into both Sidhe Courts.

Which is where he'd been for the last thousand years or so, he confides to his amused daughter, because the Fair Folk had gotten too set in their ways and it had taken quite a bit of whacking to get them to budge the slightest bit in their behaviors. The man hardly looks as though he's over a millennia old; he looks as though he's in his late forties, beard and mane showing only the fewest strands of pewter silver amongst the mahogany, with his body still muscled as only a practicing swordsman can be.

Since his activities after his disappearance could basically be boiled down to, 'hit things a lot, yelled a lot, cussed a lot and had a hell of a lot of fun doing it', it was then Aislin's turn to tell what had brought her over two oceans and a continent or two to the backwaters of the Emerald Isle.

Hers was quite simple. "My beloved realized that since my father had been at the least quarter human, I should likely have an entire pack of unknown relations somewhere around, er, 'Above-Hill'. As to why I should come out here with little warning to meet clan I hadn't thought to look up in the last few centuries, I very well couldn't have a wedding without you, can I?"

/"Ye aren't gettin' wed wit'out me permission, lass,"/ Brian tells her flat-out, to be answered with a wry smile and the faintest showing of fangs.

"Father, you haven't been in my life since before I was born. The odds of me bothering to let you naysay who I choose as life-mate now are worth less than an iron nail to a fae."

The rest of the clan wisely choose to retreat to the edges of the barn's interior with the livestock, knowing quite well that their famous clan temper has just been sparked in father and daughter. Indeed, for Brian bristles like a disturbed boar before letting his opinion on that statement be known at considerable volume with expressive language.

Aislin returns the sentiment at equal volume, her hair beginning to fluff up in temper despite the fact that it's still rather wet. The only thing keeping her from slipping her human shape is the baby's sensitivity to her changes. Else she'd see how her father likes getting snarled at by a fox bigger than a mastiff.

The argument ends abruptly a few minutes later by a tall, silvery body landing in the straw with a muffled thud, golden eyes darting around angrily for the source of his beloved's distress. Brian stares while Aislin shifts her temper over to the unfortunate Kurama, informing him in no uncertain terms that he should mind his own damn business and go home.

"But—!"

Her contralto overrides the half-formed protest, and Brian begins chuckling at the crushed expression his would-be son-in-law wears as the silver fox scrunches into himself and manages to brave the tirade, despite the fact that the Celtic man can't understand a single word she's saying. Old he might be, but Japanese is a language still quite beyond him.

"And if I want your help, I will by Inari _ask_ for it!" she finishes in a shout, glaring at her chastised mate.

/"Inherited her temper in spades, ye did. Whoo, Ah ha'ent seen such a dressin' down since yer own fair maither caugh' me tryin' tae pick a fight wi' a fella she said was a stone daemon."/

/"_You_ stay out of this, father."/

/"Ah maight, 'less this be th' fella ye're plannin' on weddin'."/

/"He is, and if you dare try to pound him into the ground I'm going to laugh when he hands his ass to you."/

"Dearheart, that sounds suspiciously like you've just suggested he fights me. You _did_ just suggest that, didn't you?" Kurama groans in English and sinks into the high-piled hay, shifting back into his human form. "Well, you can forget it. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like trying to hit a Celtic warrior from a thousand years ago who's spent his time probably whacking on strong magic-wielders."

/"Afraid yeh'll get yer ass put in th' daert?"/

"If that supposed to be something to spark my temper as an insult to my strength, I'll tell you now that won't work. My beloved is stronger than I, as is one of my other companions. I know my abilities well, and you can't do much to change that knowledge. Besides, I want to go at least one month without having to fight _someone_. I'd rather make new roses."

"Father is unwisely about to say that roses are hardly a fitting past-time for a man." Brian snaps his mouth shut, laughter twinkling in his eyes behind the paternal pride that's making him try to pick a fight.

"He's never cultivated the things, then. Stubborn as any Irishman, I'll tell you right now." The children have gotten curious by now about the strangers in their midst, and squirm free from parents' arms to wander over. Several of the youngest toddle over to Kurama and plop down beside him; bunches of violets are produced from seeds hidden in his hair's pocket space and are presented to the wide-eyed youngsters. They dash back over to their parents, bouquets held high while tiny voices chatter excitedly.

Aislin sits down beside her prone beloved, a smile replacing the frown she'd been wearing for the past several minutes. "Koi, where did you collect violets at this time of year? I thought they were all still leafing out."

"Genkai's garden," purrs the red fox, producing a lotus blossom for her in the same manner, though a warm, secretive smile accompanies the gift. Aislin laughs and takes it, bending over with a chaste kiss in return. "In return for promising I'd leave her alone about her strawberries."

"Magic flowers," says one of the older children, a sable-haired girl of approximately seven years from her position several feet away. Both foxes laugh and shake their heads.

"No magic, just a bit of spirit energy trained to obey," Kurama tells her, while Brian fumes quietly in the background. He might be Aislin's father, but he saw the affectionate exchange just a moment ago. It speaks volumes for their relationship and whether he defeated the red-head in battle or not, the wedding would still happen.

_She's as stubborn as her maither, that's fer sure._

Meanwhile, Aislin is handing a white envelope scented with pine to Michael, the flap stuck down with green wax. "This is the clan-wide invitation to our wedding. When the location is confirmed it'll appear on the card, and that _is_ an actual bit of magic. The reason we haven't chosen a place yet it that it's proving rather hard to find somewhere that can hold the number of guests that are expected to come."

"Rough guess sae far, cousin?"

"Oh, somewhere near seven hundred people, including our clan. There's Kurama's own clan coming, his mother's side only, unfortunately, since by poor luck and dangerous enemies his father's side has been virtually destroyed—" Kurama is too busy playing with the youngsters to overhear this part of the conversation, or he's choosing not to listen "—and a very large number of our friends, including a bunch that would have our hides if they weren't invited." The dark-haired woman turns on her father with a grim smile. "As for you, you're coming if I have to truss you up like a boar and drag you there myself."

/"A whole herd o' phuka couldna keep me away."/

"Good. 'Cause the phuka would be in serious trouble if they tried." Kurama checks his watch and sighs, sending children scattering in laughter when he stands. Depositing a kiss on his fiancée's cheek, the fox begins to bid farewell to his soon-to-be inlaws.

"I'm still running on Japanese time, everyone, and it's getting quite early in Tokyo. If I want to be in shape for school, I'm afraid I must be going. Aisuhana, I'll see you later this afternoon, will I not?"

"I'd better come with you," groans Aislin, giving everyone a polite nod. "I have paperwork to catch up on, and it's no fun controlling a portal when the baby is objecting to the sensation." And with another polite farewell, the two vanish in a rush of air. Brian blinks, opens his mouth to say something, changes his mind, and grudgingly subsides.

/"Far too like her maither fer comfort, that lass. Far, _far_ too alike."/

——

Genkai sits on her heels on her back porch, watching her newest pupil practice katas. Muscles roll under tanned skin wrapped in a loose, light violet gi, send hands and feet flickering on quicksilver paths in the air. A faint feeling of pride makes the old psychic's mouth turn upward into a soft smirk. Unlike her protégé and heir, _this_ student learns what she wants him to learn before he asks why or how. And then he relearns it all, using his cherished knowledge.

She's never met someone quite so thirsty for the stuff. He'd taken apart practically everything electronic or mechanical in her temple, and had then painstakingly put it all back together again. Correctly. It had been that warm, delighted smile he'd turned to her along with her alarm clock in his hands, making a persistent but more pleasant thrumming sound instead of the harsh shriek it used to use, that enlightened Genkai as to _why_ the Winter's Rose loved this one so much.

"Take a break, Haru," she rasps, breaking out of her reverie at the sound of his breathing beginning to unravel. "Get a drink. Cool down. Hyperventilating doesn't teach lessons."

"Hai, sensei," pants the amethyst-eyed teen, though he finishes the last couple moves in his current pattern before stopping. And then with an anticipatory smile, walks over to the well with the bucket sitting on the edge and overturns the contents of the bucket on his head. "Chhaa, that's _cold!_" But the exclamation is a delighted one while the water drips down his face and soaks his gi a rich purple.

And because he is actually a kitsune and a youko, he walks over to the nearest plants and shakes the extra water off onto them, quenching their thirst while drying off. Acknowledging that his teacher means his break to last for more than a minute or two, he folds long legs beneath him on the porch and returns to the online conversation he'd been carrying on for most of the afternoon.

His contact is Kohaku's friend Luke, a mixed-blood from California, and the reincarnation of Yoko and Aislin's partner in crime and soul-brother, Kuronue. They've been talking music and electronics, mostly—especially things the disguised fox can do to upgrade his beloved, and by now very battered laptop.

What the fox is completely clueless about is his watcher hidden in the trees beyond the wall; distant enough to not be sensed unless you were looking, but still providing a good view of Obsidian's training. Suzume sits on a branch with a star-struck expression, admiring the way the sunlight shatters in the water in his hair, bringing out deep blue and iridescent highlights not usually visible.

"Pretty little sparrow, sitting in a tree," singsongs a male voice below her, laughter audible even from her perch, "P-A-N-T-I-N-G. First comes lust, then comes love, then comes—ack!"

"Shut _up_, Takara!" she hisses down, threatening to hit him in the head with another pinecone while her face turns bright red. "I don't want him to know I've been watching him train! It's embarrassing enough that you've come to pester me!"

"Violent she-wolf," the injured male mutters, rubbing long fingers under his messy grey-brindle mane. "Why don't you just go train _with_ him already? Then you get to touch him, even."

"I'm not putting him in danger, Takara. He's already been taken by the Shadows once. If he has any kind of youkai interaction beyond the school-mentoring his teachers are giving him and what he gets with Genkai, no mind or scent tricks in the world will save him, and he'll be back in that little cell with no one to talk to."

"God of the Hunt, listen to you, sister. You're head over heels for that scrawny…okay, not-so scrawny renard, and I mean badly. Does he even return the feeling?"

"Um…" Suzume's ears droop. "I have no idea. I haven't really talked to him about it."

A wicked smile blooms on her middle brother's face. "Well, I know he's interested, anyway, what with the way he keeps staring at you when you're not looking."

If anything, Suzume's face gets even redder. "D…does he really?"

"Oh, damn it, girl, grow some spine! Shift into human, pretend you're another one of Genkai's martial arts students and go train with the fool. Save us your lovesick sighs and fond gazes."

"So speaks someone who's never been in love," retorts the youngest of Inazuma's children, but she jumps down from her tree anyway, wolf ears replacing themselves with a pair of mortally round ones in the correct place, her tail whisking itself out of sight into the place where all such appendages vanish off to when not in use. She stops about five feet away from the trunk, bashfully smiling at her brother. "Um…Takara? Can you give me a push?"

"Lovesick puppy," groans her grey-haired brother, putting a hand on her shoulder and propelling her forward, walking along behind. But his mortally round ears twitch with all the amusement he's got locked behind his 'annoyed' expression.

Obsidian looks up from his laptop when the pair enter the compound by the back gate, fingers freezing over the keyboard. Genkai smirks when he visibly gulps. "Ah…uh…Suzume-san! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Haru," Takara answers for his sister. "The little sparrow's late for her lesson; Genkai-san suggested the other day that you two start sparring with each other to sharpen both of your skills. Right, Genkai-san?"

"Really?" The black fox can't hide the hopeful lift to his voice or spirits, and his human teacher rolls her eyes at the small deception. However, she too is tired of the mincing these two are doing, so she lets it slide.

"Yes, dimwit. Now what are you standing there for, girl? Go get changed into proper gear—those leathers you're wearing are _certainly_ unfit for training."

"Ah, h-hai, sensei!" And Takara steers his sister towards the dojo's locker rooms. Aislin passes her on the way there and gives both wolves a friendly nod on her way to the yard, where Obsidian is stretching out again in preparation of resuming his training.

"Genkai-san, I hate to interrupt your excellent teaching, but I need you to watch over my winsome kit for a few extra hours," the koorime whispers into the old woman's ear. "I'm going to France to discuss a few things with a certain set of monks and it may take a while."

"Take your time," Genkai replies in her own rough murmur. "Takara's decided to play match-maker, so the dimwit probably won't even notice the longer lesson."

Aislin's throaty chuckle reaches the black fox's ears, but the rest of the conversation is out of hearing. "About time. Maybe they'll stop walking on eggshells around each other. I'll come back for him when I'm finished."

"Suit yourself."

——

Anthony Barac is tending to a moss-encrusted tombstone carved into the shape of an angel when the sonorous voice of the Abbot, even deeper than usual with high good humor, interrupts his wandering train of non-thought. The young man puts down his cleaning tools and dusts off his hands, walking around and into the tiny cathedral.

And stops dead in his tracks when he is greeted with the sight of the angelic demon who had saved their church—only, instead of snowy white, her hair is a dark stormcloud grey with two pastel pink streaks. The Abbot has one unadorned, callused hand resting on the woman's shoulder, beaming with cheer.

"Anthony, you'll never guess!" Abbot Bartholomew tells him, gesturing him closer. "You remember Ms. Moors, correct?"

"Who could forget?" the young monk replies honestly. He'd almost swear a smile of pure, understanding mischief crosses the woman's face for a split second before his attention is pulled back to his superior.

"She's chosen our church for her wedding!"

"After seeing this place for the first time," explains their guest in a serene tone, "I couldn't bear having it anywhere else. There is the problem of seating, but I thought…maybe…an outdoor ceremony?"

"How many people are you planning on seating?" inquires Anthony, curious about the project despite his misgivings for the self-declared demon.

"If the group I think might show up does, somewhere close to a thousand people." Anthony blinks, and resorts to a very unpious whistle. Even the Abbot is a little taken aback at the size of the planned crowd. Aislin goes on to describe the people who had been invited. "There's the company my fiancée and I built, that's about three hundred right there. I have about twenty family members coming for certain, not counting children, my fiancée's clan numbers somewhere near one hundred and fifty. Our close friends only number about twenty or so, and there's another set of clans coming—only representatives, thank goodness!—so that's another hundred."

"Close to six hundred so far," Anthony ventures, agog that a wedding that size might actually take place here.

"Finally, there's a whole bunch of assorted friends and people that I simply am unable to not invite," sighs Aislin. "That brings the total up to over nine hundred people. You see my dilemma."

The Abbot nods solemnly while Anthony thinks, hand rubbing at his chin in a habit left over from the days when he'd tried growing a beard. Aislin waits patiently for whatever it is the younger man is considering to be done with, and her patience is rewarded.

"I think, if Monsieur Gordeau allowed us use of the field fronting our church, the task is feasible. It would not be the most elegant of occasions, but it would be possible to accommodate that many people at once."

"And have the main church be the backdrop for the vows," Aislin adds, eyes beginning to sparkle at the thought. "Flowers everywhere in tasteful displays, to complement the stained glass. I like it. I like it very much."

"When were you planning to have the wedding, Ms. Moors?" Abbot Bartholomew asks, holding his breath against the worry that she might pick a day already booked. His humble church is becoming quite popular for such occasions as weddings these days, though he isn't certain as to the exact reason why.

He needn't have worried. Aislin knows better than to try and pick any day of June, since a popular superstition among pledged couples holds that a bride wed in June remains as sweet and loving as the day she marries, and remains a bride for the rest of her life. Instead, the ice-fox replies that any day in late August would be fine, though preferably no later.

The Abbot, having managed to memorize the schedule of this summer's ceremonies, is delighted to agree on August 20th for the date, and with a brief but very warm handshake, returns to his duties in his office.

Aislin merely smiles over at Anthony before she walks outside, once again making her way to her deceased opponent's gravestone. And understandably enough, the young monk follows after her. He stops several feet away while the ice-fox crouches beside the grave, pale fingers repeating their path over the worn epitaph. "You're one of his descendants, you know that?"

Anthony blinks, caught off-guard by the sudden question given by the woman who has yet to turn around and face him. "Ah, yes, I do. That's why my mother named me after him, because she hoped the name would help me shape my soul into something great."

"Names don't make a person great," mutters Aislin, eyes dimming slightly. "A person makes their own greatness; they either make their fortune or break it by their deeds."

"So says the demon of Barbarac?" Anthony asks quietly, finally rewarded with a glimpse of clearing mint green eyes.

"So says someone who's lived a lot longer than you, whippersnapper," she retorts, lips curving into her infamous half-smirk.

Her companion chuckles, coming a few steps closer. "So why are you here, Ms. Moors? Or is it Ms. Tsuki? What is your real name?"

"It's Aislin Moors. Tsuki is the name I use for some of my businesses; the names of my partners and myself translate to Shadow, Silver and Moon, descriptions of our colors and affiliations."

A finger is wagged in front of her nose, a surprisingly impish smile lighting up eyes the color of a summer sky. Somehow Anthony has moved to stand before her without her even noticing. _Damn. I must be slipping in my old age._

"So why are you here, Mademoiselle Aislin? That's the question I truly want answered."

A slow smile spreads across her face as Aislin indulges in her favorite Game: purposeful density. "I'm picking a place to get married, of course. You already knew that."

Anthony sighs in exasperation, acting very un-monk-like as he leans against another tombstone, this one plain marble just like Yuuki's. "Let me rephrase: why here? Why this place? And why did you ever come back?"

"Ahh," Aislin breathes, closing her eyes. "The boy knows how to ask a demon questions, Yuuki. Make yourself comfortable, my sweet monk, and let me tell you the tale of the man who called himself Yuuki Miyami."

Anthony does as he is bid, choosing a seat on the ground in order to keep his companion from getting a crick in her neck. The woman goes back to staring at the words carved on the polished marble in front of her, the fingers of one hand absently tangled in the vines of the rosebush.

—

_A long, long time ago, as humans reckon time, there was a man who died in the pursuit of a murderer. He was very brave, but very foolhardy, and tried to make his horse take a jump it couldn't do, killing himself and the poor beast in one horrible fall. Incidentally, the murderer had been hiding in that very same ditch, and was also killed when a ton of horseflesh and human landed on top of him._

_But the man you would call Jesus, who in truth is a shapeshifting prince named Enma Junior, or Koenma, chose the brave man for a perilous task. Because the man died unexpectedly in the fall, he didn't have his place in the afterlife ready for him. You see, Yuuki was only supposed to have fallen from his horse, not get tangled in the tack and break his neck._

_Koenma offered the task now held by another; to be this world's Spirit Detective, the one who hunts down the hunters and kills them. The one who protects humans, even the bad ones, from the predations of the beings known as youkai. And Yuuki, being the foolhardy and good-hearted man that he was, accepted the job._

_So he was given a second chance at life and was taught how to use what every single thing in this entire universe has: their spirit energy, their life-force. And he was taught to use that as a weapon. He was very good at what he did. For even though he had been born a lesser nobleman, Yuuki had always loved the thrill of fighting, of contesting his strength in physical combat, and he took to the hard role of Spirit Detective like he had been born specifically for that purpose._

_Yuuki hunted. He hunted hard, and he hunted fast, bringing down one vicious youkai criminal after another, until his greatest challenge lay in a mixed-blood female known simply as 'the Whiteout'. She, in turn, made a Game of playing with the man, relishing the challenges and the entertainment he offered her in the way of a stubborn opponent. _

_He managed to arrest her once, and then only for a short time._

_After she escaped, she stopped playing so freely with him, having been given a hard lesson in her own mortality at the hands of several unkind guards. But she continued to let him fight her until the day someone else bigger and stronger than the Detective came onto the scene. Yuuki never saw another sunrise after that._

_On the oath that no effort would be made to arrest her should she choose to appear, the Whiteout attended the brave man's funeral, giving him the best kind of immortality she could offer: being remembered. And then she left, taking the memory of sapphire roses glowing against shattered pieces of the rainbow with her, to be kept until the day she died and longer. Because that was how she was. Because he was the one who had shown her what 'nobility' really meant._

—

"The last time I came here was to retrieve something I left in his safekeeping the day he was buried," Aislin says after letting her brief story sink in. "The other two really are my students, and that thing is crucial in breaking a curse that's been laid on them. That's why I came back."

"So he really was given a task by God," Anthony breathes, looking over at the worn stone with something akin to awe shining in his face. "It wasn't just a legend."

"No, it really wasn't." A pained laugh from the ice-fox holding her captured vine to her lips. "And he was on a crusade; a crusade to catch people like me."

Serious blue eyes regard her without a trace of fear—after all, if she was going to kill him, she'd have done it already and not bothered saving the church. "What were you?"

"I ruled in the land of the youkai as Queen of Thieves, little monk. There was no angel beside me that day; the tall man is my beloved and he ruled as King of Thieves. We were…if not precisely _evil_, then certainly not of the law-abiding portion of the citizenry." The vine is released, a scratched and bloody palm is pressed to cool stone in an unorthodox kind of offering. "He was…a friend. A good friend, who never hesitated to try and take me down a peg. He was brash, stubborn, uncouth, loud, and he drove me crazy every time I turned around. But…"

"But…?"

"He never faltered. He was always so god-damned _convinced_ that he walked a path crafted by the hand of God, and he ran down the thing head-first with that stupid smile on his face. Nothing could shake him, not even me when he'd gotten me good and pissed. So many times I came close to killing him just because he annoyed me, but I never did because I liked having someone like him around. He reminded me of Yoko, how I used to see Yoko before that damned fox grew on me."

Anthony stares in disbelief. Not because this eccentric demon is crying over someone long dead; no, he can understand that. Immortality (offered only to you) is, after all, one of the first tainted gifts that the Tempter often suggests. No, the reason he stares is that instead of water, cloudy beads the color of the oceans after a storm are falling to the ground. After a few moments, he hesitantly reaches out and tugs her towards him. She moves, pliant, until he holds her in a careful embrace, her damp face resting on his shoulder.

"It's not fair," she mumbles into his frock, sounding like her throat's clogged with more than swallowed pain. "Every man I every really care about gets taken away from me. I loved Kuronue as dear as a brother; I lost him for centuries. I love Yoko more than life itself; I lost him, too, for what felt like centuries. I love Obsidian, and I lost him to Koenma's prison and didn't know where he was until this year. I love Hiei like my other half, and I lost him in Life's chaos and the interference of Koenma. I loved Yuuki for the ass that he was, and I never got him back."

"But everyone else came back?" A ragged sob and a wordless nod into his shoulder. "Then why don't you think my ancestor will come back? In all the stories I've ever heard of him, he's never sounded like the type to let himself be left behind."

He gets a choked almost-laugh for that wisecrack, and Aislin pulls away, sniffling and wiping at her eyes. She gives her companion a watery smile, her hands full of cloudy gems, her body framed by the dark green leaves of the rosebush. "You're right, Anthony Barac. You're absolutely right. I'm just being silly."

"Everyone is allowed to be silly once in a while, Aislin Moors," the monk counters with a gentle smile. "And it sounds like you were seriously overdue. Now, perhaps you'd like to come with me to talk to Monsieur Gordeau about the loan of his field?"

"I'd like that, Monk Barac. I'd like that a lot."

——

_A few hours later…_

Aislin is long gone, back to Japan to take care of school work and Spirit World business, and Anthony Barac works by the light of the late afternoon sun, tools scattered around him on his room's work-desk, the pale yellow light gleaming off a number of spheres fenced in on a corner of the sanded surface with pencils and a piece of costume chain.

His best friend peers through the open doorway, grinning at the picturesque sight of a bowed black head before a window decorated only with the metal framing of a simple cross. But amusement is joined by curiosity when he spies the beads being carefully pierced by his jewel-working friend. "What're you doing, Anthony?"

The other young man holds up a half-finished strand of opaque, grey-blue beads that don't appear to be mere glass, half-turning to face Mark leaning against the doorframe. "I'm making a new rosary with these stones that I found."

"Really?" Mark walks over to the table, picking up one of the unpierced beads with a sound of appreciation. "They're very pretty, but what kind of stone are they?"

"I've never seen their like before," admits the other, continuing his painstaking task of drilling a clean hole through the middle of each gem. "But I thought I'd call them Winter Tears."

"There you go getting all poetic again," scolds Mark jokingly, setting the bead back down with a laugh. "I swear, Anthony, you're obsessed with snow and cold things! If I didn't know any better and if your hair was white, I'd feel justified calling you a polar bear." He picks up another bead, this time whistling at the clarity and emerald green color. "How 'bout this one?"

"The same."

"They look different."

"They are."

"How?"

Anthony gazes out the window, tool and gems momentarily forgotten as he recalls a slender hand pressing half a dozen of the emerald stones into his palm and folding his fingers over them. "Tears of sorrow, and tears of joy," he breathes, repeating what Aislin had described the stones as before she left. "That's how."

Mark sighs, setting the bead down and clapping his friend on the shoulder. "Tony, my friend, I think you're spending a little too much time out in the sun. You're officially a nut-job."

"So I've joined your ranks, then?"

"Har, har. Come on, lunch time. We'd better hurry if we don't want to let Nate eat everything."

Anthony waves his friend off with a smile, picking up his tool again. "I'll be in as soon as I finish stringing these. Save me a plate?"

"Yeah, sure, crazy one. But heaven help you if you miss Vespers."

—————————————————————————————

Everyone has moments where their emotions drown out their normal masks; I figured Aislin was overdue, indeed, especially when she was reminded of just how frail a human's life can be. But the monk has a point: what makes her think his ancestor isn't coming back? He really isn't the kind to let himself be left behind.


	19. Chapter 18: The Chains Tighten

**Asilin Kheldarson**: Yes, new chapter, new fun ways to bother my characters. Repeat the pattern here. n,.,n

**Silverwing013**: Wow. You're like Aislin-on-pixie bouncy. And come on, her father hasn't been there at all, and he's where she gets her Irish blood. 'Stubborn' is an understatement. And I can make that statement, 'cause I'm part Irish, too. Kurama as Yoko has been mated to Aislin for over five hundred years. The Talk is a moot point. No Talk for Brian. In reference to Yuuki Barbarac, I'm getting there, hold your pooka. Here's hoping my laptop continues behaving. Else I see a brief flight in its future.

**Rikka Chishio**: To quote, 'manure occureth'. Working full time, classes, and busted comp kinda cut into the whole posting thing. n,.,n! Twisted personality? Oh, yes, very much so, thank you. It's nice having that noticed. _—grins—_

Obsidian: Of course I have ears. I complain about them in the first chapter, don't I? They're featured here, too.

**Hieinokoishi**: It's okay, I'm behind (way, _way_ behind) on reviewing as well. You'll see about Yuuki, and while there will be some more Hiei/Kohaku, there won't be much. Foxes are the focus of this story, after all. (I'm biased, what can I say?)

**Kitsune Kit**: —_shakes confetti off her brownie and uses hand to dust it off herself—_ Wow, that was an enthusiastic greeting. Mm, brownie. See, I'm updating, I'm updating. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, merry Winsol, etc. Hope you get what you wished for! (I'm praying that big box under our tree with my name on it is a new comp. Please, _please_ let it be a new comp…)

**Lady-Love**: Oh, yes, very much so. _—tail wags cheerfully—_ Please avoid munching on body-parts, as humans taste unpleasant and clothes are needed to avoid charges of public indecency.

To everyone who reviewed my newest carol-parody, thank you all very much. I was rather shocked at how many I got in one day. I hope you enjoy the stories here, as I enjoy writing them.

**_Holiday bonus_**: If I get eight reviews for this chapter, with at least two from new people or from people I haven't heard from for a while, within the next four days, I will post the next chapter—which features the long anticipated wedding!—as a present to everyone. Fourteen reviews gets you two chapters, nullifying the cliff-hanger I have inevitably stuck in at the end of chapter nineteen. Ready? Set. Review!

——————————————————————————————

The midsummer days seem to pass all too quickly for Team Urameshi and their companions; it seems to Obsidian that he blinks and it's already the tail end of July. The wedding of his surrogate mother is just over two weeks away, and everywhere he looks someone is there, filling his world with dizzying activity. After the play had been finished with, he'd become a regular student at Genkai's along with Suzume, who now trains with him daily.

And who he's definitely starting to have feelings for, despite the fact that she's nearly a century his senior and one of the last members of a hunted clan. In fact, if you point those facts out, he'd usually blink at you and go, "Oh, yeeeaah. Who cares?" in tones of indifferent remembrance.

The developing romance is a live-action entertainment for the rest of the gang—Hiei even makes a point to observe the training sessions just so he can watch Obsidian go red in the face every time Suzume comes out of the locker room in her gi. Meanwhile, Zephyr is getting the accelerated courses of fuda and origami magic from her mother, absorbing everything like a sponge thanks to the Ivory-linked memories of the basics.

Obsidian often gets letters that way now, usually in the form of a swallow or crane, since the two hardly get to see each other now that school's let out for the summer. It irks him, but he dares not bring himself to the attention of the child-prince's hunters any more than he has to. He has no wish to have another chunk of his memories completely wiped out.

Preparations for Aislin and Kurama's wedding are advancing nicely; Aislin gave up on trying to get the girls to agree on her dress and just had one of her old acquaintances make something more to her taste. Of course, just to piss the ice-fox off, the 'old acquaintance' decided to be cheeky (on the sly commission of her mate) and made a more complicated version of Aislin's fae dress in pale, pale blue.

When Hiei saw it, he'd just started laughing while Kurama gave the old fish apparition a bonus during Aislin's (comparatively) mild shouting fit. But in the end, the ice-fox agreed that it was probably going to be better than anything her female friends could come up with and agreed to wear it. Obsidian (who'd been in the background the whole time examining the silken creation) cheered and tossed confetti he'd pulled from his pocket space.

Then spent an hour cleaning every speck of it up on the orders of the pissed dress-maker.

Now, though, he simply takes some time for himself and goes to a park near Kurama's mortal house, choosing a tree for a refuge and resting his back against the rough trunk. One of the sand-boxes is nearby, and he watches with half-lidded eyes the young children making castles and moving small piles with toy trucks. His hair's grown out some; it brushes his shoulders again in a thick curtain, his bangs forever hanging into his violet eyes no matter how many times he pushes them away.

But soon the joyous shrieks of playing children are too much for him to stand, and he seeks a quieter place to zone out. He finds one in the farthest corner of the park, a tiny clearing no more than ten feet across, ringed by blackberry bushes heavy with fruit.

He snags a handful on his way into the little sanctuary, flopping onto his back in the browning grass and letting out a sigh of relief. Everywhere he's been lately has been too…too busy, too noisy, and it grates on nerves accustomed to day-long periods of almost perfect silence. Obsidian pops a berry into his mouth and bites down, savoring the taste of sun-thick juice that explodes on his tongue.

The dappled sunlight turns the leaves he stares up at bright green, the only noises around him that of wind rustling those leaves and the calls of birds above him. Relaxing for the first time in over a month, the fight-weary renard drops into a deep sleep with the berries forgotten on his chest.

Nothing happens for a long time, a good hour to judge by the motion of the sun, as the inhabitants of the park grow accustomed to their quiet visitor. At last, though, some of the blackberry canes are pushed aside by a cautious nose and a deer youkai of the pika variety edges into the clearing. The large brown eyes are locked on the pile of berries sitting so temptingly on the rising and falling chest clad in a simple green tanktop.

A xika beats the deer to them, the tiny winged rodent flying in from a tree and making a perfect ten-point landing on the topmost berry, staggering like an overweight bumblebee back to its branch with that fruit clutched in its tiny paws.

Snorting at the show-off antics of the demon-kin mouse, the deer youkai picks its way over to the waiting snack and delicately starts munching the berries one-by-one. The display of courage encourages the other inhabitants to resume their activities.

From another tree, a sylph sings a ballad in her wind-through-treetops voice while hanging up laundry made from leaves and flower petals. A meremia, canny to the ways of predators, hunts bugs while keeping an eye on the sleeping kitsune taking up the main part of its hunting ground. A mortal hawk perches on a branch, just waiting for that xika's luck—or sense—to run out on another go at the berries.

Obsidian's youki, locked behind heavy shields for the past couple of weeks, takes this moment of dropped guard to begin leaking out, giving the flora around him new life and vibrancy. Flowers bloom in the thick carpet of short grasses, attracting shyer creatures than the deer.

Butterflies. And among them, the brilliant wings of pixies and faeries fan in unearthly arrays of color. The butterflies and most of the other tiny fae go for the nectar-filled blooms scenting the air with dozens of flavors, but one or two come to rest beside the almost-gone pile of blackberries.

Sure, they could easily claim those on the bushes and with less risk than these, but the berries lying on the green-clad chest are the ones most filled with energy, and so are worth the risk. The deer looks annoyed at having to share its snack, but lets the plucky little faeries choose their own rewards, mouths quickly getting stained with purple juices while they squeak at each other in their tiny voices.

"Look, Poppy, it's _the boy_," one of the berry-eaters tells her companion, a male with a bright blue shock of hair. "What do you think he's doing all the way in here?"

"Who cares, Glory?" the male replies with a shrug. "If he wants to nap here, let him. Sun-god only knows you-know-who's men aren't likely giving him a break."

The meremia, an older, calmer creature than the ones who had claimed the Avalon twins as their special people, glides down to join the conversation. "Probably escaping the wedding preparations, too."

"It's so exciting!" pipes a nearby pixie, dragonfly wings fluttering in anticipation with her arms covered in pollen all the way up to her elbows. "Those two, finally getting married! And in the Human World too!" The deer bounds a few feet away when Obsidian sleep-mumbles and rolls onto his side, ink-black ears popping out of his hair and his tails unfurling in a silken banner. The faeries resettle, carrying the last berries to their new perch on Obsidian's hip.

"Do they know the legend, do you think?" Glory asks no one in particular, abandoning her berry and fluttering down to the ground, one minute hand reaching out to touch the gem set in the black fox's forehead. "The one that involves these?"

"How should we know, Glory?" hisses Poppy in alarm, his hair flopping into his face as he gestures hard. "Now get away from there! It's dangerous!"

"But Poppy, it's _the boy_," his companion protests, still touching the jewel. "You know he's a friend to practically everyone."

"I'd rather you not test that rumor!"

"Worrywart," giggles the pretty little faerie, relenting. She's fluttering back to her companion when someone else leaps from beyond the barrier of thorny canes to the trees and down again, sunlight picking up tawny colors in a wild mess of hair. Squeaking in panic, the fae, deer youkai, and the meremia are gone in the blink of an eye, leaving the black fox asleep among the butterflies and the stranger.

Raspy chuckling slips through the air as Kou the Topaz Cat crouches beside Obsidian, a respectful but disbelieving smile quirking his lips. The young renard is virtually dead to the world, a large purple butterfly resting on the tip of one silken ear, his limbs in the careless sprawl of youth.

"You've got some pretty crazy luck, kid," the Cat comments wryly, offering his finger to the butterfly as a perch. When it steps onto it with little fuss, he raises it to his face for a closer look. "Here all of Reikai's been hunting you, and I find you asleep in the flowers."

The strange voice finally wakes the napping fox, who slowly blinks open golden eyes and freezes when a pair of unfamiliar boots are registered as being less than two feet from his head. A very quiet curse is whispered in Kitsune, making Kou beam at him even more.

"Why aren't you running, kid?"

A long pause to look around before Obsidian tells him, "I'll crush the butterflies if I move."

"The butterflies," Kou sighs to the living jewel resting on his hand. "The kid is wanted by the Prince of Spirit World, and he's worried about hurting butterflies." The addressed pretty flutters large amethyst wings seemingly in response, before it sails away to a particularly attractive bloom at the edge of the clearing. "Get your priorities straight, kid."

"Their lives are short enough as it is," is the low response from the youkai lying at his feet. "Who am I to bring them early deaths?"

An explosive sigh from the lion, who pushes his tangled hair out of his face, laughing. "Damn, you really are just a soft-hearted kid, ain'tcha?" he jokes, gently shooing away the three or four other butterflies that had decided to settle on the fox. "The guys in Mid-Security told me 'bout you, how you took care of a couple of fish for ten whole years. An' how you would sing roundelays with your neighbors."

"Not a lot to do in jail," Obsidian jokes weakly in return, still not moving even though all the delicate insects have been shooed away. Kou makes a noise in agreement before he picks the younger apparition up by the back of his tanktop. "I don't suppose the ol' Jedi mind-trick thing of 'these are not the 'droids you seek' would work, would it?"

Being the movie-buff he is, Kou not only knows the line, but understands the reference. "Not when you stink of fox, kid."

"Look, whoever you are, I don't need much more time. Give me one more month, and I swear to the gods I'll turn myself in."

"The name's Kougyoku, but people just call me Kou. My nickname's the Topaz Cat. And you, my unfortunate bucko, are Obsidian Avalon. So why do you need the month? I admit I'm curious."

"There's a curse on me that takes five jewels to break. I've gotten the Dragon's Tear, the Blood-Star Ruby, The Eternity Lily, and the Agate Eye. I'll have gotten the Sunstone by the end of August, and then the curse will be broken and I can turn myself in. I'll swear in blood if I have to, but _I need to get this done_."

"Kid, you're gonna have to be more convincing than that."

"The curse was bought by a demon named Higurashi, and cast by one of the last black-sorcerers in Makai. It's all in the name of revenge on my boss."

The lion pauses at the edge of the bushes, a strange expression beginning to turn his eyes molten amber. "Now that I believe, kid. You say this's gonna screw that piece of slug-youkai crap over royally?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," assures his prisoner. "Higurashi paid a whole hell of a lot of money for this curse, and if I break it he's gonna have spent it for nothing. You know that won't make him happy at all."

"You got yourself a contract, then," says the Topaz Cat, setting Obsidian on his feet in the grass. "But you're gonna have to swear that blood-oath. I don't want you running off and my ass getting put in a sling 'cause I let you get away scot-free."

"Deal." The black fox concentrates youki in his thumb, then nicks the pad with his sharp fangs and writes the sigil for his name in empty air, the glowing mark hanging there for only a breath or two. "I hereby swear to turn myself in by the thirtieth day of August to the authorities of Spirit World." He presses his bloody thumb into Kou's waiting palm and adds, "By this mark you will know I have fulfilled my oath. I'll see you on the banks of the River Styx, Kougyoku the Topaz Cat."

"Got yourself a bargain, Avalon. Now get going before I change my mind."

Obsidian bolts off, leaving behind Kou in that clearing filled with flowers. The same large purple butterfly floats over, coming to rest on the same proffered hand. The lion smiles at the delicate creature, baring a single gleaming fang. "How 'bout that, huh?" he sighs to it in a bemused fashion. "Catch of my career, and I let him run off like a gazelle on steroids. Revenge is such a bitch."

——

Ohh, that was close. Far, far too close! Obsidian bolts for Genkai's temple but changes his mind after only a couple of blocks, his numb mind remembering that no normal human, or even one trained by Genkai, should be able to run fifteen miles at a sprint without some kind of rest, first.

So, despite his nerves that scream at every sudden move or unexpected flicker at the corner of his eyes, the black renard catches a bus to the edge of town, clinging to the hand-rail for dear life. He even leaves the imprint of his fingers on the durable metal, though he doesn't notice that at all. Only after he gets off the bus does he race at all his impressive speed up the trail to the safety of the temple.

Yukina, tending her garden as usual, looks up in surprise when a breathless, wide-eyed Obsidian screeches to a halt inside the warded gate, practically hyperventilating as he stands with hands on knees, letting his fear work itself out of his system. "Haru-san?"

A hand waves limply at her in an attempt to reassure, that elegant head with the unfinished look getting thrown back, the better to gulp in huge lungfuls of air. Genkai emerges from somewhere inside the temple, her own faded brown eyes narrowed at her student.

"Stop swallowing air like that, dimwit, unless you want to damage all of those little sacs in your lungs." Obsidian stops breathing altogether for a moment before he registers who had spoken. Then all his attention is on her, eyes holding a feral edge to them. Genkai continues walking slowly towards him, her raspy voice level. "Take slow, deep breaths and let them out just as carefully. Your body is going to say it needs more oxygen faster, but if you keep gasping like that you're going to hurt yourself."

Yukina stays where she kneels beside the mint patch, waiting while Obsidian begins to follow his combat-teacher's instructions, that dangerous feeling ebbing away. She knows better than to approach any youkai when they feel cornered, having been on the approached end for a number of years during her captivity at the hands of a black-market gem dealer named Tarukane. Because it's times like this when the brain shuts down and instincts take over.

Finally Obsidian takes one last huge breath and drops into a sitting position on the cobbled path, his usual ebullient smile weak and shaky around his calmed respiration. Genkai stands just a couple of feet away, her fists resting in the small of her back as she gazes soberly at her student. "Now, mind telling me what that was about?"

"Wards?" comes the wary reply, and Genkai snorts.

"Koenma's not allowed to spy in my compound, you know that. So long as you are within the circle of this temple's walls, you are effectively invisible."

Giving the elderly psychic a respectful nod, Obsidian explains what had happened less than an hour before. He concludes with a confused, "But rumor says that the Cat is one of Koenma's best hunters. You're not supposed to let revenge get in the way of your job, but that seems like exactly what the Cat did. I don't understand."

Surprisingly, Yukina is the one to give him an answer, when she gives him a clay cup filled with cool water. "He's still a person, Haru-san," she says soberly, still using his human name so as not to make a crucial slip in any future event. "Sometimes, no matter how much your head wants to do what's just or what you're supposed to do, your heart is going to take you in another direction."

"You should understand the concept of revenge, kid."

"I do, Genkai-sensei, I really do, but…"

The old woman sighs in understanding, once more reminded that while the kitsune before her is chronologically bordering adulthood, his mental age is still somewhere around a human fifteen or so. A naïve fifteen, at that, due to his severe isolation during most of his formative years. "It seems impossible that even those people considered 'good guys' would want something so dark as vengeance?"

A meek nod is the black fox's response, his violet eyes downcast. Genkai sighs again, looking towards the sky as if asking for patience. Yukina merely pats him on the head with one of her sweetest smiles, asking gently if he wants to help her weed the garden. As Obsidian nods acceptance and rises to go with the koorime, Genkai tells him one last thing on the topic.

"Vengeance is vengeance, kid. Doesn't matter what flavor or color it comes in, be it sweet or bitter, black or white or grey, sooner or later, even the best of the Light is going to want to lash out in retaliation. It's how the world works."

"_'Dark, Light, day and night/ No matter what they say./ Black, white, wrong or right/ It's all in shades of grey'_," Obsidian quotes back tiredly from a youkai-children's jump-rope song, looking as though the few hours of peaceful rest he'd gotten hadn't been nearly enough. "I should know that by now, Genkai-sensei. Thanks for putting up with me."

"Saves me from weeding that stubborn garden," Genkai smirks back. "I get to watch you two do it and supervise."

"Sit on your porch and yell orders is more like it," quips the renard with more of his usual cheer. Genkai fakes a head-smack in his direction and he lopes off with a throaty chuckle, a hint of the heart-breaker he'll be when his spirit catches up with the rest of him. Yukina hangs back a moment, sharing a conspiratorial smile with her benefactor before padding back to her plants. It really is simple to cheer the boy up or calm him down; the koorime believes that it's because he's a naturally laid-back soul, one that's fairly young with few lives experienced. And because he has a good heart that wants to shine all that cheer back at everyone, just to see them smile.

As dusk falls, a shadow drops onto the ground just inside the temple's ancient walls, somehow managing to glide and stalk at the same time to where Genkai is reading a newspaper on her back porch, a cigarette sending tendrils of smoke up from an ashtray by her knee.

Faded brown eyes glance unconcernedly up at Hiei before returning to her paper, the fire apparition half-hidden in her own shadow, thrown across the ground by the electric lights in the room behind her. "What is it?"

"Checking for the young fool," is the monotone reply. "No one's seen him all day."

A thumb is jerked towards the room she'd actually been guarding, but her eyes don't move away again from her paper. "He got into some trouble today and came here for some breathing space and quiet. He passed out about an hour after he finished weeding the garden with Yukina."

An ebony eyebrow rises in a surprisingly arch expression. "Did the trouble have a name?"

"The Topaz Cat."

The arch expression is gone, replaced by apprehension and a potent curse muttered under Hiei's breath. "What's the fool still doing here then, instead of his reserved pit?"

"Because the Cat surprised the dimwit with a foible. He's got a vendetta against Higurashi."

"And…?"

"And the boy gave the Cat a blood-oath in exchange for his continuing freedom." Genkai takes a drag of her cigarette and blows a cloud of smoke into the air. "But his freedom ends on the thirtieth of August."

"Hn." Hiei seats himself cross-legged on the porch beside Genkai, upwind of the smoke, his mask once again firmly in place. "That's cutting it close."

"Stating the obvious." But Genkai folds her newspaper with a sigh. "Aislin's going to be furious."

This time, a broad smirk flows across Hiei's face with the ease of familiarity, brought on by his own fiancée, Kohaku. "Maybe she'll actually do something to the brat-prince, then."

"Vindictive kajihenge."

Hiei rises again, strolling casually through the doorway of Obsidian's room with that smirk still in place. "And I haven't been since when?"

——

A week later, and only one more remaining until the wedding. All of the arrangements have been taken care of, including a tunnel from Makai to Ningenkai—specifically, to a field about a mile from the Church of Redemption in France. Koenma was understandably upset at the perceived hole in his nice tight Kikai Barrier, but he calmed down when Aislin explained that it would be keyed, specifically, to the people who would be coming. There would be Yusuke Demon-side and Hiei on Human-side to act as a kind of bouncer/usher, making sure that those who were going through had a) an invitation or b) proof of their identity.

Shikyo was a suggested third precaution, but none of the youkai of the group wanted to take the chance that she'd read the location of the Lair or something equally vital from one of the guests, so use of her services was vetoed. The Blade-arm Clan of Kohaku's ookami family had agreed last month to attend as security for the weather and the guest-list, and translators and illusion charms have been crafted for anyone who will need one. Can't have the unaware human attendees getting spooked by, oh, say, a ten foot, purple-skinned giant covered in spikes (one of Merc-Guild Captain Mizu's men, a surprisingly gentle oni who had assured everyone that he could get his own tuxedo for the occasion).

Aislin's long-time friend and his company the Pride-claws would also be acting as security—and only as security, or they'd be sitting among 'friends of the bride' with a few of Kumiko and Zephyr's sealing wards slapped on to make sure they behave themselves.

Now, with only the waiting to be taken care of, Obsidian and Zephyr's hand-to-hand combat training has been stepped up, Suzume taking part in the lessons after a private request to Genkai on the part of the sweet wolf-girl's father.

"Kit, I told you to keep your guard up on your left side!" Aislin yells in a voice that would do any drill sergeant proud. "Stop letting your attention slide to the pretty girl in a gi!"

The Reikai Tantei and company are gathered at Genkai's temple on this sunny summer afternoon, Koenma and Kuwabara absent for their own legitimate reasons: the child-prince is still swamped in paperwork and is trying to memorize the last bits of his part as priest/preacher/ceremony-speaker-person, and the carrot-top is stuck at home because Shizuru refused to let him go, instead making him catch up on homework missed on a non-Avalon related case. She's at home as well, making sure that her brother doesn't sneak off like the delinquent he used to be.

So Yusuke, Hiei, Genkai and Aislin have decided to put the trio of youngsters through a 'pop-quiz' training session, seeing how much they've learned so far. As usual, Hiei is their adversary, though Yusuke has been added to the role as well, since Obsidian, Ivory and Suzume have advanced far enough to give Hiei trouble by himself.

Keiko had been surprised to see Zephyr suddenly shift into a slightly-taller, paler version of her human self with ears and a tail like Yoko's, but had accepted the explanation of the vixen's case as being a slightly-botched reincarnation—no mention, of course, is made of the parts involving Obsidian and his search; Keiko's still clueless about that. So's Kuwabara for that matter, but since he isn't at the gathering it's a moot point.

Botan's found out through the grapevine somehow about Obsidian, but since she never liked the fact that such a nice boy was kept so long for no apparent reason in that cramped itty-bitty cell, she's managing to keep her mouth shut, enjoying the secret.

"Stop staring at Haru like a lovesick calf, wolf-girl, and pay attention to your opponents!" Genkai shouts to her own student with her expression between exasperation and amusement. "Dimwit, stop going so easy on them or you're going to—" Her warning comes too late. Yusuke, not believing that the trio of students is as advanced as they are, hadn't been fighting as well as he should be.

That gave Ivory an opportunity for attack, and she'd taken it, slamming the end of her preferred bo staff into the Detective's stomach with all of her formidable strength. Yusuke goes tumbling back with the breath knocked out of him, whamming into and through a tree. Hiei just smirks as he spars with the youngsters, cheered to see his cocky friend taken down a peg so firmly.

But it is with smiles of glee that the trio pounces on him next, quickly tangling him up in a mix of vegetation and fuda, with Suzume holding him still with her touch-focused paralyzation ability. Hiei growls in his confinement, but quickly starts laughing when the stunned Yusuke gets a similar treatment at the hands of Obsidian and Ivory, the unfortunate demon-descended human soon strung up by his feet in vines and scraps of paper.

Yusuke's outraged yells (once he gets his breath back) bring smiles to everyone's faces, including Keiko's though she hides hers behind a hand. Genkai motions for the foxes to release her heir, and proceeds to chew him out for underestimating an opponent while the youngsters go and free Hiei from his captivity.

Later, when night has fallen and only the youkai remain behind, waiting for a howl-along with the Crescent-Blade clan to get started, Hiei looks down from his perch in a gnarled tree at the black fox leaning against the trunk.

"You truly do have the most unholy luck, fox," he tells the disguised Obsidian in an unreadable tone. "Even those who should do otherwise keep your secret."

"It's not entirely my doing, Hiei-sensei," Obsidian sighs back, pushing his messy bangs out of violet eyes for the uncountable time. "If I didn't know any better I'd swear Destiny was fixing things so it'd be impossible for me to get caught."

Hiei once more has that grin of Kurama's cousin Rei pop into his head, and instead of snapping back some dismissive reply, he actually turns thoughtful. "You could be right, fox. It's entirely possible."

"Huh?" Apparently Obsidian had been expecting the scornful response. His upturned orbs flash gold in the darkness with the strength of his own surprise. "You mean you agree with me?"

"Don't sound so shocked," Hiei says gruffly. "I agree when the idea sounds sensible."

Obsidian laughs at that, his eyes glowing back to amethyst above a broad smile. "You make it sound like you've actually met Destiny."

The only reply is a knowing look from ancient garnet eyes. Instantly Obsidian is up in the tree beside Hiei, practically sparking with excitement and awe. "You mean you do? Is she really a she? What's she like?"

Hiei's answer is brief and succinct. "She's a pain in the ass. Worse than Kurama."

"Really? How come?"

"Getting a straight answer out of her is impossible."

"But we foxes are—"

"Even _worse_."

Blink. "Wow."

Hiei snickers, unbending enough to ruffle the young kitsune's inky hair in a rare sign of affection. "Just don't depend on your luck forever, kitling. Sooner or later, if you're not careful, no matter what Fate wants to have happen, you'll get caught by someone immune to your charms and her entanglements."

"I just hope it's after the curse is broken," breathes Obsidian fervently just as Kohaku's voice rises in harmony with Suzume's in the beginning of the howl-along. And when the black renard returns to the ground, his own molten baritone cry spiraling into the night, Hiei sends a prayer to whatever Powers are listening that the boy's wish is granted.

——

"You do have a hand in this…situation…don't you?" Crimson hair bound back with a yellow-and-black checkered bandanna shimmers as its owner turns to face the fire apparition perched on her workshop window, a delighted but very secretive smile parting rose-pink lips.

No need to ask what Hiei is talking about. "It's a major tangle that I've been sorting out for the past six months, Hiei. I see you've managed to sneak around the dimensional barrier into my work-space again."

He drops into the room, striding over to where Rei Kenobishi sits at her huge loom strung with rainbow threads. "Have you gotten it untangled? What's going to happen?"

"Mm-mh, Hiei-kun, that'd be telling." She wags a finger in mock reprimand at him, other hand never faltering in the working of the polished shuttle darting across the weave. "You know I'm not supposed to do that."

"Rei…" His tone of warning says it all.

But Rei over-rides his threat. "Don't even bother, you know it's currently impossible for me to actually be killed, and it'll stay that way until my successor is trained. In the meantime, I honestly can't tell you the outcome even if I was allowed to. The tangle's too big still, and the Meddler's got both sticky hands in the mess. I'm having enough problems keeping Obsidian out of prison and the Sunstone out of Higurashi's hands."

"The bastard's attempting to prevent the breaking of the curse?"

"No. That's the weird part. I haven't even been able to fathom his motives from his Thread, but…" The emerald eyes so like his soul-brother Kurama's dim in troubled emotion. "He's not doing anything to stop it. He's just…watching. Waiting like a spider in the middle of a web." Her mouth twists wryly at the unintended pun reflecting her own Office's symbol. "It's just that Chaos wants the jewel to go to the bastard so very badly. By the way, I can tell you that he's got a couple of shadows on your pair of cubs that have so far managed to escape your notice. Next time they come within a mile of you, I'll light them up so you can get them out of the way."

Hiei nods his thanks and starts to turn away. A work-callused hand on his arm stops him, the spike-haired youkai turning to meet Rei's suddenly-fierce gaze. "Be warned, Hiei. Something big is coming that no Power can stop. There's going to be death, just like there was for Nerima. But I don't know whose. With any luck at all, it'll be Higurashi and no one else. But this once, I can't guarantee it."

In a gesture more befitting of Kurama than of his own privacy-loving self, Hiei picks up that slender hand and drops a kiss on Rei's knuckles. "Thank you for that warning, Rei."

"It's the best I can do right now. Walk carefully, Hiei, and guard those two as best you can. If not…my instincts tell me it's going to be bad."

And with a silent nod, Hiei disappears out the window again, leaving a grim Rei to return to her workings of Fate.

——

"What news, Shkatha?"

"None to the good, I'm afraid, your Highest Excellency. The Avalons appear to be waiting to bond with the final jewel, and our informants have, unfortunately, been giving cold welcome from the Jaganshi and the Whiteout at last. We have yet to be able to place new spies upon any of the foxes."

"That," hisses the voice from the darkness, "is going to make things exceedingly difficult. However, I can guess what they wait for; their precious teacher's wedding. See if you cannot sneak an agent onto the guest-list or something of the sort."

"Aye, your Highest Excellency. As you command, so shall it be done."

————————————————————————————

Bwahaha! Yes, the cliff-hangers get worse. Evil me. Review and you get past it—and to the wedding—that much faster. Bwahaha, bwahahahaha!


	20. Chapter 19: Wedding Bells

**Peeka-chan**: Yes, it does. And I'm enjoying this immensely.

**LeneKetsuekihi**: Well, you reply in good time! Glad you finally worked up enough energy to review! Please do so again, yes?

**DevilDucky1304**: Because I'm evil and because it amuses me, that's why. It also provides incentive to review to encourage me to post faster. Mwuahaha!

**Silverwing013**: Dear gods, no, no more bouncier-than-Aislin. And I don't know how a pixie would affect a human, but I'd advise against it. They're fast little buggers and, as Aislin has mentioned, they bite. Yes, the wedding is happening, and no, nothing's going to interrupt the ceremony. Someone showing up after the wedding, however, is a strong possibility. I'm glad you and D-chan liked my parody, now go run off your sugar-high before Hiei takes it upon himself to make you.

**Rikka Chishio**: Mwuahaha! As long as my laptop works, I can forego my homework and satisfy my fans! Yes, you can pet his ears.

Obsidian: _—happy purr—_

**Raeneflovescandy**: Heyla! Welcome back, and merry Christmas!

**EarthHeartIdiot**: _—laughs—_ Yes, you count! And you only have to read up to manga five (I think) or whenever Ukyo Kuonji pops in. Everything else doesn't really need…oh, wait, Herb, right, forgot about him. Um…sketi, when does he make an appearance? Oh, well, just look him up online or something, save yourself some time. But you should get the manga, it's a marvelous series.

**Kitsune Kit**: Gods, Rei drunk. There's a frightening thought. I don't think you want someone who controls people's destinies getting tipsy.

————

Okay, you've met my 'price' for the next chapter! (six more gets the you the next by Christmas!) Onward!

————

Warning: There's going to be some confusing suffixes later on after the wedding takes place. Just remember, the lack of them indicates how familiar or how much emotional distance the speaker feels with the person named. Example: Aislin, unless she's feeling particularly affectionate, is not going to call Yukina –chan or the like, because the two have been best friends since day one.

—————————————————————————————.

Kohaku perches in one of the trees wearing her regular street clothes, but her hair and makeup—surprisingly non-flashy considering her usual décor and color schemes—already done, watching the guests file into their seats in the large grassy field. She's looking for a particular set of people…and her eyes light up when she spots them, dropping out of her watch-tree and running over to the members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew that had been invited. Namely, the Hibikis, the Kenobishis, and the Tendos.

"Ranma-kun! Akane-chan! Rei-chan!" the wolf-girl greets enthusiastically. "I haven't seen you since our last concert! Enjoying the school break?"

"Hey, Kohaku-chan," the pig-tailed boy replies with equal cheer, echoed by his fiancée Akane and Kurama's adoptive cousin. The adult Hibikis have already been led by a smiling Kasumi and the other Tendos to their chairs, where the directionally-challenged couple will remain until someone leads them to the reception—to be held via portal at Genkai's temple, but that's being kept hush-hush at the moment.

Ryoga gives the wolf girl a fanged grin, looking particularly dashing in his tuxedo. "Hey, glitter-Goth."

"Hi, Random!" she chirps back. "Hey, I'll bet you guys are looking forward to graduation in March, ne?"

"Ne!" the others agree in fervent voices. "I'll be able to get away from the last few fiancées who haven't gotten the idea that I've finally decided who I'm marrying," adds Ranma, reminding Kohaku that her Wild Horse of a friend has been accepted into a university in America. Akane is going with him to the same university after the two had spent a year applying for the same places, and with a subtle tweaking from Rei (shh!) had managed to get into one of their top choices.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Kohaku sighs, before a sharp whistle from the direction of the church catches her attention. Peridot eyes look around to find her band-mate and American friend Ally waving to her from the Abbey door. The room had been temporarily converted into a dressing room for the day, and Aislin as well as a number of the other girls are still holed up in there, waiting for the ceremony. "Yikes! That's my cue! Snag your seats I'll find you again later!" And Kohaku dashes off to get changed.

Luke and Craig wander over in tuxedos as well; for once their group won't be supplying the music. Some of the youkai in the Thieves' Lair are expert players at the kind of songs Pocky doesn't usually play—ballads—and the quintuplet are busy tuning up just left of the cloth-and-flower-draped pulpit.

A good fifth of the groom's side for guests has been taken over by tall, graceful people who either sport silver, ebony, or deep crimson colorings, and who smile at everyone with a very secretive but joyful air. These are Yoko's relatives, the kitsune clan the Gemsongs. In the same section reserved for family sits a combination of Kurama's human families—'birth' and by-marriage, numbering somewhere around fifty people. Shiori, Kazuya, and Suichi gaze around them with smiles nearly as secretive, knowing that a majority of the guests here are by no means human. Behind them is half of the Lair, and behind _them_ are sitting the representatives of Blood Moon.

On the other side, the front rows are taken up by Aislin's human—well, mostly human, considering—family, bringing a mix of brassy auburns, deep mahogany, and red-tined ebony to the ceremony, as well as a mix between tartans and modern dress. A good dozen rows behind them (occupied by the Blade-arms and several of Aislin's more distant relatives) sit the non-security members of the Pride-claws and the other half of the Lair, all of them sharing mischievous glances with each other and wondering how much fun it would be to get a sparring free-for-all started. However, they know better, and so remain relatively quiet in their seats. Behind all of these people sit the 'assorted friends' that Aislin had mentioned, meaning those who aren't in the actual ceremony. A lot of those are allies or folk from Spirit World, the latter under a number of oaths to keep them from trying to arrest practically everyone else present. In almost everyone's ears, the earrings for translation and disguise glitter tastefully as small diamonds.

For those who aren't sitting within the first twenty rows a set of video cameras and screens have been set up so everyone in the back can see what's happening up front, and there are fragrant flowers everywhere!

Most of them are the deep sapphire blooms called Waterwinds, deep-throated members of the lily family that 'sing' in any breeze because of the tiny holes that line their 'tongues' and stems. Complementing those are Bells of Ireland, white roses, and lots and lots of Angelwing.

Finally, though, everyone is either dressed or seated, and the band begins to play the youkai version of the wedding march. Similar, but more flowing and sweet, less martial. As one, the guests turn to the back, where the wedding party begins the measured walk up the aisle. Things have been altered a bit due to complications of reincarnation and lack of specific people, so while the elegantly-clad bridesmaids and their male counterparts do walk up the aisle in pairs, as well as Best Man (Hiei) and Maid of Honor (Botan, surprise, surprise), Kurama comes walking in at the end, alone. Kohaku, just behind the blue-haired ferry-girl, can't help but giggle at her fiancée's stiff back, the fire apparition mildly outraged at getting stuck with the breathless Botan.

Kurama has chosen to be in his human form for the occasion, though he had seriously considered going in his half-transformed state. He'd decided against it, remembering that his human relatives would not likely understand or be comfortable if they realized what most of the other guests are. Genkai acts as Matron of Honor, with Gambit as _her_ counterpart. The aged fighters had sized each other up upon meeting, and each had decided that the other would do. They take their places on either side of the pulpit, where a beaming Koenma waits for his own part to begin.

The Wedding Waltz (as the youkai call it) takes on a more triumphant note, and everyone turns again to see some of Kurama and Aislin's youngest girl cousins walking up the white-carpeted aisle, scattering rose petals and mint leaves as they go, dressed in the pale violet, slightly frillier versions of the bridesmaids' gowns, somehow appearing out of nowhere. Huzzah for illusion spells! Walking after them are Zephyr and Obsidian in his Haru personae, joint ringbearers because the vixen is a little too old to be a flower-girl, but deemed deserving of something a little more special than bridesmaid. None of the other girls are offended by the wording Aislin had used, understanding that the silver-haired girl shares a unique link to the ice-fox.

Kurama gulps when Aislin steps onto the carpet, arm in arm with her father, the Celt towering over his daughter in one hell of a stylish tuxedo, his dark mane brushed back into a tight ponytail and his beard trimmed. He'd thought about wearing his armor, but Aislin had gently reminded him that this is a peaceful occasion and convinced him to wear something of the modern age. He looks incredibly handsome, and his daughter understands why her mother had been attracted to him all those centuries ago.

She herself is enough to take her mate's breath away, dressed in her replica of her faerie gown, with silk slippers on her feet and dark blue ribbons twining up her legs. Her hair sets off the color and her eyes, the storm-cloud tresses caught up and back in a deceptively simple style with jeweled pins, the pale pink strands woven with crystal beads and left to curl past her ears, hung with a pair of diamond drops. A single white rose is tucked over each ear in her hair, matching those in the bouquet she carries.

Yusuke and Kuwabara, men-of-the-groom, grin and elbow each other slightly at the dazzled expression Kurama wears at the approach of his mate, the sun sparkling off her pale-pink lipgloss and the glitter dusted across her cheeks. (Kohaku's touch.)

Brian and Aislin stop a step or two away from the slightly-raised dais upon which the pulpit is set, the Celt giving his daughter a kiss on her forehead and her mate a stern glare of warning. _'Do right by her'_ is the clear message the ancient warrior sends to the emerald-eyed changeling. Kurama accepts the warning with a slight nod, then his attention is all for the delicate creature now standing beside him with a satisfied smile.

_/Don't forget to breathe, Kurama/_ is the telepathic advice of Hiei. Kurama gives his best man a quick grin, and then everyone starts paying attention to Koenma as he goes into his prepared speech. In the back sit the monks, and all they can hear or see is the brown-haired man wearing a blue tunic, khakis, and a red scarf and his voice—everything else is silent, the rest of the guests practically holding their breaths to catch every word.

Koenma concludes the main portion with, "And now the vows the couple have prepared for each other." He skips the part about objections, because anyone who does is—ahem!—catmeat.

Kurama goes first, turning and catching his beloved's hand in his own. Aislin gazes up into a face overflowing with love, her own eyes softening into a pale green color in return. "You are the one I have searched for all my life, the only one I've vowed to live for until the end of time and beyond. No matter what I've done, no matter how many times your heart broke because of me, you've stayed beside me with your head held high. I can't ask for anything more than you continuing to do so, through the best of life and the worst, because without you there is no world for me. Will you stay with me, beloved, no matter what?"

Aislin's smile is beatific as she nods and half-whispers, "I will."

Most of the Lair leans forward in their chairs, expectant as Aislin starts her own vows. "Just as some flowers need Luna's silver light to reveal all of their glory, so too do I need you. I will wait for you even if death parts us, because even she is not enough to keep you away. Your love, your laughter, even your pranks and your troubles, all of these things are part of who you are, and I cherish them above all else. We've hurt each other, and still we remain together, and I pray that we do so until we are gone from this world and any other. For there is no life without love, and no love without you. Do you promise me that this is forever?"

"I do." Zephyr and Obsidian step forward, and the rings, simple gold creations modeled after the Irish 'puzzle-rings' that form the petals of a rose, are slipped on the third finger of both left hands, the pair turning to face the audience, beaming with joy.

Koenma raises his arms, a similar smile curving his own lips up, and cries, "Then by the many powers vested in me, I hereby declare you husband and wife! Now let's see some kissing!"

The silence erupts into wild cheering as the couple melts into each other, until it seems they've forgotten that somewhere near a thousand people are standing around them, waiting for the real party to begin. Finally, though, Yusuke and Kuwabara pull the newlyweds apart and push them towards the waiting portal about thirty feet beyond the end of the white carpet. But Aislin stops in her tracks at the sight of a slender woman almost her height, with deep blue hair and turquoise eyes standing beside a tall man with jet black hair and eyes so dark a blue they're almost black. The woman is someone she never thought she'd see again in this life, and the man is someone she never thought to see with a demon's pointed ears and a set of claws.

Silence ripples outwards as Anthony Barbarac scratches the back of his head sheepishly, grinning at the open-mouthed Aislin with every sign of glee. "Sorry we're late. Traffic was a pain in the ass. Did we miss everything?"

——

An hour later, after all the guests have been shooed onto Genkai's temple grounds, the memories of the monks mildly altered so that Anthony appeared normal and everyone left by conventional methods; the cake cut and the first dance enjoyed, a quietly seething Aislin sits with her close circle of friends to grill the reincarnated Spirit Detective.

Her mother is beyond any form of blame, and is sitting off to one side in happy contemplation of her smitten-all-over-again mate's eyes. Mindful of the makeup she's still wearing, the ice-fox carefully rubs the corners of her eyes in circles. "Okay, you unconscionable prick, explain to me again how in the names of the gods you showed up at my wedding."

"Huh?" Anthony's attention is brought back from amused observation of the mini soap-opera still being played out between Suzume and Obsidian. "Oh. Well, I actually got myself a new body about two or three centuries ago and figured out how to grow up pretty quick. One of the perks of being Detective apparently is you get to keep what memories you want. So as far as I know, I remember about as much as I did when I died."

Yusuke is sitting across from his predecessor, staring at him with a surprisingly level gaze. What Aislin had told him about the man seems to be true; if Anthony Barbarac looks and acts about the same as he used to, he's so much like the teenaged punk it's uncanny. Although the guy's grammar is better by a longshot.

"Like I was saying, I got myself my adult body pretty quick and learned to enjoy the life of a traveling brawler. It's much more interesting and less stressful than the life of a nobleman, I'll tell you, Whiteout." A faint growl from the petite female brings him back to topic. "Anyway, I got to traveling and guess I got decently strong, nowhere like I was when I was human, though, and about three months ago I got word that you were getting wed to the…hey, I thought you were promised to that Yoko fellow. Who's this young dandy?"

Kohaku, a fan of older languages, understands the term and starts laughing, leaning against Hiei to keep from falling over. Kurama merely indulges in an amused expression and the smirk of his that remains utterly Yoko, which Anthony has no problem recognizing. "Well, I'll be damned. You shrunk."

"Actually, Yuuki, he got a new body after a man named Kendrik of the Axe killed his original one." Aislin corrects her old adversary with admirable calm. "Now finish before I break your neck."

"Oh, sorry." Anthony takes a swallow from his wineglass and rests his chin on the back of his free hand. "After that, I started looking for some way to cross to Ningenkai or even Reikai, but the damned net had gotten too tight for me to sneak through. I spent, oh, a good two months trying to find someone who could get me here, and I finally ended up on the edge of a floating island covered in snow. That was after some smart-ass eagle demon thought I'd make a good meal for its chicks and tried carrying me off. It's missing a leg now."

"Details," the ice-fox dismisses with a wave of one elegant hand. "Continue."

"Right. Well, I wandered the outskirts for a bit, getting ignored or glared at by a lot of pretty women and some little girls, until I'd managed to circle, I think, about half-way around the island's periphery. That's when I bumped into that lovely lady over there," a thumb jerked in the direction of Shimohana, "and when she asked me very nicely what I was doing on the Isle of Koorime, I explained to her just as nicely that I was looking for someone who could get me to Human World in time for the Whiteout's wedding."

"Knowing my mother, she likely pointed some weapon at you and demanded to know what the hell you were thinking," Aislin snickers.

"Yeah, that might be what she did," agrees the ex-Detective. "But after I mentioned your old thief-name, she thawed considerably, even taking that wicked little naginata away from my throat. Then she offered to get me here if I'd escort her. So I said yes, and we managed to arrive just in time to see your interlude with your colorized fox."

"Which I am most certainly glad I did not miss," says a sweet alto voice from by Aislin's ear. The ice-fox turns, beaming, to hug her mother again. "It was a heartwarming sight, even if your father appeared to wish the strangulation of your paramour."

"Overbearing bully," Brian's daughter mutters in his direction. Said Celt merely grins wolfishly back and replies with, "Stubborn chit."

"Now, children," chides the near-translucent female garbed in a plain kimono the color of a spring sky. "No fighting at the reception. After the…the…" The sensual mouth turns down in a mild frown of annoyance. "Oh, what is that word that is used nowadays?"

"Honeymoon?" guesses Kuwabara, rewarded with a brightening of the lovely apparition.

"Ah! Yes, that is the word. Honeymoon. When that is over, you may contemplate argument. Until then, please behave yourselves as befitting two adults."

Sigh. "As you wish, mother."

"Yes, dear," says the chastised Celt while his daughter kisses the other woman on the cheek. Pleased that her 'mother' attitude has not diminished over the centuries despite not having a daughter to raise, Shimohana turns turquoise eyes to Hiei with sharp interest.

"And this, if I am not mistaken, is poor Hina's young son."

Hiei bristles against Kohaku, his crimson eyes narrowing. He gets a discreet elbow in his ribs from Kohaku, discouraging him about violence. "What of it?"

"So rude," sighs the koorime woman. "I suppose it could not be helped, what with you growing up amongst the uncivilized folk of our world. Poor Hina did so want to keep you, and I simply could not understand why they banished you. You were such a sweet little baby." And she pats him on the head as if he's still just a young child. Hiei looks about ready to explode from temper—Yusuke and Kuwabara appear to be preventing death by asphyxiation, though Kohaku would say they look about ready to laugh themselves to death. "Now, where is your darling sister? I haven't seen her for quite a long time, too, Hiei-kun, and it would be nice to have all three of you together."

"The prick's got a sister?" Kuwabara asks blankly into the ensuing silence. Hiei withdraws into himself and stony silence, while Aislin gets up, taking her mother off to the side, well out of earshot of the human members of the small group.

"Mother, Yukina doesn't remember Hiei. She knows that she has a brother, but as far as he knows, she isn't aware that Hiei is the one she's been looking for."

"As far as he knows?" comes the intelligent query. Aislin flashes her mother a quick smile.

"They've been intriguing each other. Each knows who the other is, but they aren't telling that they know. Yukina's been mostly pretending to be a sweet, naïve country-cousin, of sorts, instead of showing how smart she is."

"Clever girl," Shimohana sighs, "but highly unnecessary. Go fetch her, my wise daughter, and we shall put this particular deceit to an end."

"All right, but that means we'll have a very grumpy fire apparition on our hands," warns the bride as she strolls off in the direction of the garden, where Pocky America is beginning to set up.

"Child," comes the ready reply, "I helped midwife the boy. He knows quite well to behave himself."

Aislin's throaty laugh rises above the chatter just as she disappears into the crowd. A few moments later she returns to the circle, arm in arm with Yukina. Hiei, getting an inkling of what is about to happen, attempts to get up and leave. Kurama and Yusuke's hands locked on his arms, however, persuade him to remain in his seat on the blanket. Shimohana stands halfway between them on the edge of the circle, amused at the fire apparition's discomfiture.

"Oh, Auntie Hana!" exclaims Yukina in delight, rushing over to the woman and giving her a warm hug. "It's been decades!"

"Hello, Yukina," purrs the older koorime. "But I didn't have my Aislin fetch you just to see you, dear. There's a particular deception here that needs to be taken care of."

The crimson-eyed girl has the grace to blush, a faint shading of pink across her cheeks, as she shyly glances over at Hiei. "Caught, am I?"

"We've been outvoted on it," sighs Aislin with a nod to her mother. "Hiei, the Game's up. You both know."

Aghast, Hiei stares at his sister, now wearing a tiny, pleased little smile. "You _knew_?"

"Don't be silly, Hiei-kun, of course I did. Why do you think I insisted staying in the Human World?"

Kuwabara, however, has been looking at the smiles on his friends' faces with growing confusion. "Guys, what's going on? Since when has Hiei had a sister, and why is my sweet Yukina-chan looking at him like that?" Aislin's mother regards him with her own measure of surprise, then looks over at her daughter, who mouths the word 'besotted' in answer. The mirrored aqua eyes clear.

"Hm, how to explain this without you having a conniption?" muses Kurama, mischief dancing behind emerald orbs. "Let's try this: Yukina-chan's long-lost brother has always been far closer than you were led to suspect, Kuwabara. He's been in this city for the last three years."

"Dude, I still don't get it."

Yusuke claps his friend on the shoulder with a pained sigh. "Kuwabara, you remember when we had to go save Yukina-san from that gem dealer, and Koenma had Hiei bring that tape?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, if you'd stayed to watch the end of it instead of racing off with stars in your eyes, you would've found out then that Yukina's brother is _Hiei._"

"Urameshi, that is seriously not funny."

"No," Hiei snaps, "it's not, which is one reason why I wanted to keep it a secret! Especially from you two!"

"Buut!" Yusuke can't help but grin at the pissed-off fire apparition. "That has to be one of the _worst_ kept secrets I've ever heard of."

Kuwabara, looking pale, looks around their circle. "Who else didn't know?" The only people to raise their hands are Zephyr, Kohaku, Brian, and Anthony. Zephyr because she's never seen the two together, Kohaku because she'd never bothered confirming her guess about the similar scents of the pair, and the last two for obvious reasons. The carrot-top starts getting angry until a pale hand settles on his shoulder.

"Kazuma Kuwabara," Rei soothes, gently pushing him back down again, "Hiei-san did try his best to keep it a secret from everyone, you know. Like with the situation with Genkai-san, all but Yusuke-kun were left to figure it out on their own. And you," she adds with a cheery wrinkling of her nose, "were too busy courting Yukina-chan to pay any attention to what you perceived as chance similarities." Looking over at an Aislin still bemused at the thought of a female Kurama, the ersatz Fate concludes with, "Hello, Aislin-san. Congratulations."

"Thank you."

Giving Kuwabara's shoulder a brief squeeze of reassurance, Rei goes to stand before Hiei with her hips slung at an angle, one fist resting on the higher hip. "Well, porcupine head? Do I get to say I told you so now?"

The upset crimson eyes turn accusatory. "You! You had your hand in this, didn't you?"

An evasive smirk. "Maaaaybe."

Hiei surges onto his feet, Rei taking off with a merry laugh with Hiei in hot pursuit, shouting imprecations at her too dire to repeat in print. The guests from Makai start whistling and cheering, a number of them placing bets on the outcome. Yukina chooses this opportunity to console a depressed Kuwabara, giving him one of her angelic smiles and an apology.

"I'm sorry, Kazuma-kun. I didn't tell anyone that I knew Hiei-kun was my brother. I hope you're not angry with me."

"Nah," the gangly psychic says in a sad voice, "just feelin' pretty outta the loop. That's twice almost everyone but me's known some big secret about our group. If I'm a member of this team, people should tell me what the hell's goin' on so I don't look like such an…an…"

"Oaf?" supplies Hiei, as he and Rei dart past the group. Kuwabara glares at the vanishing back of the kajihenge, but nods.

"Kazuma-kun, you're not an oaf," Yukina chides. "You've got one of the biggest hearts of anyone I've ever met. No one as sweet as you can be considered an oaf, except by maybe someone as grumpy as Hiei-kun."

"He's really your brother, huh?"

"He really is."

Wearing a sheepish expression, Kuwabara gets to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck as a number of odd situations over the past three years are explained. "No wonder he was always glarin' at me when I was around you. He's one of those bullying, protective brothers."

"Yeah, that's about the right way to put it," agrees Aislin. "Since he's going to be occupied with chasing Rei-chan around, Kohaku, why don't you go and finish with the sound-check? I can see…Craig-san, I think you said his name was, waving at you from around the dojo. Kuwabara-kun, Yukina, why don't you go with her? You two might be able to sneak in a dance or two before Hiei gets to play protective beastly brother in public."

Sharing conspiratorial smiles, the trio named link arms and head off to the performance stage, blond human Craig ducking back around the dojo when he sees that Pocky's lead singer is finally coming, and after a moment Kurama gives his wife that Yoko smile of his.

"Another dance sounds like a wonderful idea, koibito. Why don't we introduce your folks to mine and get in a few more dances of our own?"

"Sounds good," chirrups both Aislin and Shimohana, the daughter and mother just looking over at each other and laughing. "It looks like Shiori-san's beaten us to it already, though," the ice-fox adds, pointing off to the left where the human woman is already chatting with a handsome older couple with identical sheets of silver hair—though the male has eyes the color of oxidized copper, and the woman has bright amber ringing her elongated pupils. Like parents need any help finding other parents.

"Better go introduce ourselves, then," Shimohana says gaily, grabbing her own muscular beloved at the wrist and tugging him off to join the conversation. Aislin leans into her mate, a wicked grin blooming.

"Think they'll get along?"

"One would hope," is all Kurama replies, as he leads her off towards the dancing area.

——

The night is in deep swing by the time most of the human guests have gone home, thanks to portals and a few handy memory alterations. The Moors clan didn't bother with going home, yet. They're still chatting with the group of actual Elves that appeared not long after the last of the blissfully-unaware humans left. Most of said Sylvan dwellers are gathered in a loose group with the adults of Aislin's Irish family: the children of both sets are playing the universal game of Tag.

Shiori and Yoko's mother Agate are sharing embarrassing stories about their mutual son's childhoods, the Silver Thief wisely keeping clear of said conversation, and dangerous gold-flecked glares inform his team-members to do the same.

The wolf clans had gotten together and had started a sing-along—an actual sing-along, not howling—at one end of the temple compound, and almost the entire youkai guest list has since shed their illusion charms. Tails, various styles of wings, horns, scales, skins in a rainbow of colors, fangs and claws are everywhere that the fascinated Suiichi looks, and most of them are amused at the human boy's interest. He's gotten a headful of information from the plethora of questions he's asked.

Most of it is even true.

Obsidian is even free to wander around in his real form since not only is Koenma gone, presumably back to Spirit World and stacks of paperwork, but any attempt to arrest him here would bring an outcry from a majority of the remaining guests and a call to arms. Several of the younger vixens have set their caps at winning the handsome renard with sin-dark hair and eyes of molten sunlight, but are either avoided with practiced grace or rebuffed by a possessive she-wolf of fawn hue, amber orbs sparking.

It amuses the adults of his circle to no end, watching Obsidian trail after Suzume like a mortal puppy, a silly grin on his red face when she catches his hand and eventually pulls him to join the sing-along. Zephyr in her form of Ivory laughs too, though her own face heats quickly enough when a dashing, glossy brown renard offers her his own company for the evening.

"Ah, young love," Aislin sighs wistfully, her fingers entwined with Kurama's, the pair watching their kits in their first steps of romance. "Such a wonderful thing, even for those on the business end of it."

"Indeed," a familiar, cultured voice says from not very far away. Both of the youkai gape to see a tall man walking towards them, straight curtain of ebony hair swept back behind a matched pair of horns and tucked behind a set of six willow-leaf ears. "I can remember back when Yoko here discovered the pleasures of the Red Lantern district."

"YOMI?" gasps Aislin in shock, but Kurama recovers quickly enough to counter, "That was lust, not love, and I was a fool back then even as much as you."

"How in the names of the gods did you get through that damned portal?" Aislin demands, walking up to the ruler of a third of Demon World, jabbing him in the chest hard enough to bruise. "I don't recall welcoming you to ruin the celebration."

"I have my ways," is Yomi's evasive, laughing reply. He turns blind eyelids to Kurama, that self-satisfied smirk that makes Aislin want to smash his face curling regal lips. "Besides, do you truly think I'd allow myself to be left out of this kind of party? Don't worry, Winter Rose," the youkai King adds smoothly, sensing the checked anger making jewel eyes shimmer in the threat of violence, "I'm only here to deliver my gift and congratulations, and I'll be on my way back to Makai."

"You'd _better_ be," Kurama grits between clenched teeth. "We bear no love for you anymore, Yomi. Your presence is unwelcome."

"Oh, very well." Pouting, the elegant demon conjures a long, rectangular box from beneath his militarian coat, handing the brightly-wrapped package to a wary Kurama. "Congratulations on your wedding, and whatever blessings I have left to give on you both. Pleasant evening." And he stalks off, gathered punctured dignity around him just as Hiei would in the same situation.

As though the fleeting comparison is a summons, the fire apparition appears at his soul-sister's elbow, cherry orbs wary at the scent of anger hinting on the air. Making a visible effort not to follow her own request, Aislin points in the direction Yomi went. "That four-horned prick from the Stone City was just here. Please go and make sure he gets back where he bloody well belongs."

"My pleasure," growls Hiei, disappearing in a blink. The storm-haired apparition turns back to her beloved, resignation icing over the vibrant color of her eyes.

"Best see what's in it quick so we can be rid of it all the faster."

Nodding in agreement, Kurama suspiciously undoes the silk bow and slits open the paper, revealing a cherry-wood box stamped with a winged horse in gold. A single careful claw pops the simple catch and opens the lid on a real treasure.

In spite of herself, Aislin sucks in her breath at the sight of the crystal blades lying on black velvet, matched dirks with the glassine hilts wrapped in fine blue leather and titanium wire. Both long daggers are carved out of unflawed Dragonice, their own substance the blades, hilts, and pommel stones. But still leery of Yomi's tricks, both pass hands over the entire box, probing for any spells, traps, or charms. Nothing. The crystal is as clean as the day it formed under Makai's mountains.

Reverent, Kurama slips out one blade and angles it to catch the gleam of the paper lanterns strung all over. "This one has your name on it, koishii," he breathes, tilting it so that his beloved can see the delicate runes of her name etched along the blade. "The other has mine."

"His and hers Dragonice daggers," Aislin replies, the bite of her words lessened by faint amusement. "Yomi always did know just what to get us."

Hiei mutters behind her, "Very nice. He left the sheaths with me, the bastard, but he went through the portal." Solid leather sheaths to match the hilts are handed to the fire-apparition's soul sister, accompanied by a ferocious scowl. "Good riddance."

The box, its contents, and the sheaths are quickly tucked away into Kurama's pocket space, old thieves' habits—like guarding any truly valuable loot—dying hard. Sighing as merriment once more returns to his frame, the emerald-eyed fox turns to Aislin and offers her his hand.

"Not much longer until we depart on our honeymoon, my love," he purrs. "Shall we bid good night to the masses and retire?"

A tanned hand on his shoulder distracts him from the willing seduction of his mate. "With all due respect, Yoko-san, perhaps you wish to apply our gift to your purpose, first?" Inazuma points out in diffidence. His mate Nadeshiko stands beside him in her festival finery, a silk-wrapped bundle in her hands whose contents are easily guessed.

The foxes' eyes light up, literally, glowing softly in the dimness. "Wonderful idea, Inazuma-san," Aislin tells him before turning. "I'll go find the children."

"Stay with your besotted fox, snowflake," Hiei advises. "I'll go hunt them down. They're probably over at the sing-along."

A thought occurs to the ice-fox, and she stops him with a gesture. "Take your time. If my beloved and I are to go tramping through the forest, as we shall if we want any kind of seclusion at all, then I for one am getting out of my finery."

"And the foxlings?"

Kurama is the one who answers as he and Aislin head for the living area of the temple. "They changed back into street clothes a few hours ago. No worries about them."

"Oh, no, of course not," mutters Hiei savagely under his breath, heading for the source of such cheery noise. "Just a power-mad fool with deep pockets, extensive connections, and a grudge. That's not mentioning the entire damned Spirit World hunting for them. Oh, no, no worries at all."

———————————————

Dragonice: A particularly rare kind of crystal that grows only in a restricted area of the sixth-level Makai's Draco Illuminous mountains. Take a hiruiseki and multiply its worth by about a thousand. That's for a single-ounce piece, unflawed.


	21. Chapter 20: Things Lost

**Lene**: Thank you. It was rather tricky writing that particular scene without making it too cliché.

**Peeka-chan**: Quick-edit can be very evil. What it does to web addresses is annoying. As in, it makes them go 'poof'. I never did get to hear that live-action one of my reviewers did for 'Spirit Gun'. T.T

**Kitsune-Kit**: I own all three. I loved the ending to the last one. _—Aislin is busy sqeeing over the robe in the background—_

**Hieinokoishii**: Huzzah for sugar rushes. Merry Christmas, hope you don't go crazy at your relatives' place. I like the Obsidian/Suzume pairing, too. It's so much fun writing.

**DevilDucky1304**: Bingo, bingo! You win the prize! One bonus chappie for Christmas, and if you like, I'll email you the next chapter so you can gloat to your friends. (I'm evil and cruel, yes, but come on, the story can't progress without the climactic scene!)

Not quite the six reviews I was hoping for, but what the heck, close enough. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukah, cheery Kwanza, etc. Be safe!

————————————————————

"Master, the plan is almost ready to advance to the final stage. The Rose and the Thief are taking the Avalons to perform the final ceremony."

"Most excellent, Shkatha. You will find your payment in the usual place."

"You are not waiting, m'lord?"

"I have waited for this moment for the past century, Shkatha. I do not see why I need wait an extra few hours. Besides, if I strike now, when the final bonding is just completed, that will pain that witch that much more."

"I see your excellent reasoning, most clever master. I pray that they mourn as you wish them to." The agent waits until the heavy footsteps fade into the distance before he straightens from his low bow. "And may you get your just desserts, you pile of slime," he adds disdainfully, for while he has despised serving Higurashi, the pay was too good for him to resist. If Shkatha is fortunate, he will never again have truck with people like that ice-hearted snake-in-the-grass. Shkatha is retiring and getting out of this hateful business.

——

The moonlight shines down into the clearing that has already been sealed by a mixture of energy and fuda, the Sunstone in all its natural glory casting a nimbus of dim radiance of watered sunlight onto the grass in the middle of it all. On one side of the clearing stands Aislin, now dressed in a pair of worn jeans and a comfortable sweater, her hair loosened from the up-do and tied back into a simple ponytail. On the other stands Kurama, dressed in similar clothing, his hair left unbound as is his wont.

Ivory and Obsidian are immediately to the left and right of the Sunstone, Ivory in jeans and a plush white turtleneck, her brother in black jeans and a loose grey sweatshirt. The silver vixen's hair gleams like molten platinum under the moonlight, while only the touch of silver even reveals where Obsidian's short, raven-wing hair is.

The twins look to their mentors, the blue-silver light from above sparkling off the small jewels set into their foreheads, drawing an echoing glimmer from the sigils traced around said jewels. Aislin gives her students a reassuring nod, then glances over at her mate, who also responds with a nod.

(!("Stone of Sol, awaken.")!) A flicker of orange light blooms at the ice-fox's words and forms into a sexless body that still somehow manages to exude a distinct feeling of 'male'.

(!("Rose of the Winter, I am awake and aware. You wish me to join in contract with Obsidian Avalon and his sister, Ivory Zephyr, correct?")!)

Amusement colors Aislin's stance. (!("You always did pay more attention to the world than your sibling stones. Yes, that is correct.")!)

The tiny head turns to look up at the curious, friendly twins gazing down at him. (!("I was in the possession of your master many centuries ago, only briefly, then was sold to a gem dealer. But what I learned in that short time was that the Whiteout, now called the Winter Rose, is a person whose word can be honored. That fact that she speaks for you says much about your own characters.")!)

A familiar feeling of being weighed, this time tempered by the sensation of laughter or at the very least, non-indifference, wraps around the Avalons for only a breath or two before dissipating. (!("Very well, young Avalons. I do hereby agree to bind my soul with yours until your lives end, and agree to do the same with my sibling stones until the time of the contract's disbanding.")!)

(!("So witnessed,")!) Kurama intones.

(!("So declared,")!) Aislin chimes.

(!("So it is done,")!) Sun-soul finishes. (!("And I welcome back my missing pieces.")!) Even Aislin and Kurama blink when the other stones appear in the clearing, circled around the Sunstone and glowing their respective colors. And before the four's wondering eyes, the jewels merge into a sinuous shape, until a stone dragon with brassy scales lies in the grass, curled around a miniature, featureless moon.

On the foreheads of the Avalons, in gold, traces the sigil for 'rebirth'. Ivory picks up the statue that is as big as her head, surprise flashing across her face at the weightlessness. The dragon is a mix between Eastern and Western beliefs, sinuous but muscular, with a raised crest running from between the single set of horns all the way down to the barbed tip of the tail, and all over a solid, brass hue. The eyes are closed, though if they were open, the silver vixen would be willing to be they'd either be as blue as lapis lazuli or as bronzed as the scales.

"Aislin-sama," Obsidian voices his thoughts aloud, "this looks very much like…"

"Like the dragon who watched the worlds be formed," Aislin finishes in a firm tone. "That's right. So, at least parts of the legends are true."

"Legends?" Ivory inquires sharply, turning to face her teacher with the statue cradled reverently in her hands. "As in more than one?"

But instead on answering, the storm-haired female tenses and then flings a deadly-accurate kunai towards the shadows just beyond her kits. "'Ware! Guard! And get your asses over here!" A pained shriek declares the wounding of those shadows while Ivory and Obsidian scamper to their mentor's side, the abruptly-silver Yoko diving into the darkness, coming out locked in combat with a form whose limbs glitter in the moonlight.

A sound of torment rushes from compacted lungs when Yoko is flung off into the ward wall, sliding down into a stunned heap as the cut-up skulker lifts his face into the light. Aislin hisses in the fashion more befitting a cat, more of her ice kunai flying straight for the demon.

This time, though, the other sees those weapons coming, and dodges them all with uncanny grace. "You've gotten slow, Whiteout," the male chuckles, the sound of silk over polished marble. He is revealed as a snake youkai, tall, lightly built, with the pattern of a mortal diamondback rattler turned into living, gleaming stone for his scales. But power breathes from his every pore, just as it does for Aislin now.

"Well, Higurashi," Aislin growls. "Finally decided to play your Game yourself? How very like you. But you are getting neither sculpture nor cubs on this night or any other." Her ice katana glitters in her hands under the moonbeams; she swings it in a vicious, lazy circle, moving into a flawless defense position.

It's not going to do her any good. With that same sibilant laugh, Higurashi raises a clawed hand to his lipless mouth and exhales hard. Dust rushes outwards into a cloud, trapped by the barrier erected by Aislin and Ivory. The four foxes start coughing even with hands and clothing clapped over their mouths for filters, the snake unaffected because his weapon is specifically designed for warm-bloods.

And faster than he could have hoped, one by one they drop to the ground in senseless heaps. Yoko, who had only begun to right himself, crumples alongside the barrier with a rose in his hands.

More importantly, the barrier keeping even Higurashi inside collapses without Aislin's conscious will to sustain the energy flow. It is then a simple matter of peeling away key fuda, and the serpent demon just picks up the two unconscious Avalons and the statue, and strolls off to his carefully-crafted hole in the reworked Kekkai barrier.

——

Back at the temple, Hiei stops in the middle of the song he and the rest of Pocky are playing (he has been a member of the band for over a year now), turning to gaze towards the Forest.

"Something's wrong," he mutters, the mike nevertheless picking up his words and tossing them out through the speakers. Kohaku gestures to their current techie to turn off the sound system and looks over at the bemused fire apparition.

"Wrong? Like how?"

"Don't know." The guitar is on its stand and Hiei gone before anyone can blink, a telepathic addition flavored with midnight concern getting flung back at his own future mate, _/But I'm going to find out./_

It's only moments before a telepathic wash of anger and disbelief washes back, staggering most of the gathering and causing Kohaku, Yusuke, and Kuwabara to sprint after their friend. When they reach the source of the wave, namely Hiei, they find him crouched over Aislin and commanding her in a worried voice to wake up.

A movement of silver off to the side brings Kohaku to Yoko, who has managed to throw off the majority of the drug thanks to his higher body mass and metabolism. "'Rashi," he wheezes, helped into a sitting position by Yusuke and Kohaku. "Drug. Can't…can't breathe!"

In response, Kohaku summons up her own healing ability, transmuting her usual manifestation of a rain-cloud into a humid, lung-cleansing mist. In seconds the Silver Thief is breathing easier; he gives the wolf-girl's supporting hand a warm squeeze. Golden eyes still somewhat glazed are aimed at Hiei. "Aisuhana?"

A groggy voice and a pale hand groping for the fallen ice-blade is the response. "'M gonna chuck tha' snake inna Void, s' help me, 'Nari."

"Hn. You can't even stand yet, snowflake."

"He. Took. My. Cubs."

"Crap!" Yusuke looks around angrily. "Someone kidnapped the twins? Why didn't someone say something?"

"We were drugged into unconsciousness at the time, Yusuke." Back in his human form, Kurama manages to speak in something close to his usual flawless baritone.

"I can tell you where he went," comes a voice whose level neutrality indicates court-training. Hiei's blade is out and gleaming against the stranger's neck almost before the last word is spoken, yet neither fear nor anger hitches the smooth tones.

"Step into the light," Kurama commands. "Hiei, let him walk."

And into the light steps an angel.

Golden hair is tied back into a ponytail that trails to the man's knees, with ice-blue eyes beneath pale eyebrows. A pair of massive feathered wings sprouts from his shoulders, and for clothing he wears only a pair of loose white trews that tie at the ankles. Aislin hisses from her unstable crouch in the grass.

"Hn," Hiei snorts. "If it isn't one of the Fallen race."

"One of the who?" both Yusuke and Kuwabara ask.

Kurama grimaces, eyes locked on the male standing so calmly before him. "The Fallen are a race that precedes humanity, Yusuke, Kuwabara. Up until the early Mesopotamia era, they lived among humans and were revered as messengers of gods or gods themselves. But when religions started fighting amongst themselves, the Fallen took themselves off to Demon World. So they are called the Fallen, because they no longer have the worship and offerings from humans. They have fallen from their own glory."

"You forget," the Fallen says in that neutral voice, "we also had cousins in the Aztec and Inca Empires. The feathered serpent, the Quetzalcoatl. And a few others, who demanded blood be part of their worship. Be thankful I only asked for harvest bounties and celebrations for my due, else I would not have been so kind as to come."

"Spit it out already, you lump of feathers," snarls Aislin, using her retrieved blade to help her up. "Where has that bastard taken my foundlings?"

Unaffected by the insult, the blue-eyed male looks over. "My name is Shkatha. Higurashi took them to the Barrens, where he intends to complete the ceremony with the Avalon siblings as a sacrifice." Then before anyone can stop him, the demi-god is gone in a thunder of wing-claps, a few shed feathers drifting to the ground in his escape.

Aislin finishes getting to her feet and walks in the direction of the front of Genkai's temple. Her own Jagan eye is open, throwing out aqua-colored sparks in her suppressed rage. Her telepathic sending cracks whip-sharp in the minds of the entire gathering. _/Residents of Makai, the party is over. If you want to get back to your homes, I suggest you start gathering around the portal. NOW./_

"Aislin, what are you planning?" Hiei demands, falling into step beside his soul-sister. A humorless smile flashes white in the darkness beneath the trees.

"Very simple, Hiei. I'm going to hunt that bastard down and pin his hide to my study door."

——

_"Oh, my head," groans Obsidian, sitting up in soft grass, hands pressed to his skull in an effort to keep it from splitting apart. "Someone make the hammers go away."_

_"Ah, he's aware," a half-remembered male voice says in sympathy. "Welcome back, young Obsidian." Golden eyes crack open, then widen when lush greenery blanketed in silence and starlight meets his gaze. Somehow he's in the Void._

_"When we can get back into our bodies," the pained, doubled voice of Ivory-Zephyr says from his left, "the first thing I'm going to do is strangle Higurashi if Aislin-sama hasn't already beaten us to him." The subtleties of their teacher's Name erase the smothering smell of decay and acid-washed stone of their enemy's. _

_The black fox finally notices that someone's hands are supporting his aching shoulders, and a pounding head is turned up to find the sunbeam-crafted body of the Sunstone-Soul bracing him up, gaze solemn. "Hello again, Obsidian Avalon. For a brief time we thought you'd not survive the powder."_

_"The what?"_

_"The bastard drugged us," Ivory-Zephyr snaps, the heels of her hands pressed against her eyes. Beside her, both Ruby-Soul and Agate-Soul nod, the two female shapes on their knees in the dew-soaked grass. _

_"Indeed," sexless Tear-Soul puts in. "Our captor used a powder specifically aimed at warm-bloods, thus leaving his own scaly hide unaffected. However, he failed to compensate for your lower body mass and lower energy levels as compared to your instructors. Any larger a dose would have killed you both and thoroughly ruined the snake's plans."_

_Their current setting is the viewing-pool used by the Avalon siblings to see the Truths of the worlds, lit by another full moon framed in pale silver-grey wisps of clouds. Mist creeps along the ground, an echo of the fogging effects of the drug still lingering in the foxes' physical bodies. _

_The surface of the water is blank but for Luna's serene reflection, and not for the first time Obsidian wishes that the plants of his Dreamscape talked like those in the solid world. This place is quieter that his old cell back in Reikai prison, but for the sounds of Ivory wrestling her pain into something manageable. The gentle warmth of the Jewels lends comfort, though not enough to ward off the echoing chill of numb limbs. _

_What he last remembers is the glitter of the moon off that dark pink dust that had wrapped him in suffocating darkness…He surges to his feet, heedless of the renewed agony spiking through the awareness of his Self and staggers to the pool, wordless command twisting the complacent ripples into a different image._

_Golden mesh seals behind a shockingly large group of people, the polished tunnel walls ending on an empty field beneath the bruise-purple of the Makai's night sky. At the head of the group strides a silver-haired kitsune, his golden eyes hard in a tanned face; at the rear stands a storm-haired woman dressed in hunting leathers, her graceful hands moving tropical-sea energy to knit the neat hole in the Kekkai barrier closed again. Her cat-green eyes are as dark as her hair in leashed rage, her movements sharper than the Dragonice dagger sheathed at her hip. The observer sighs in relief to see the two alive and hale enough to be pissed._

"The tunnel's sealed, Yoko. Those of the Lair, move out! The rest of you have the choice of staying or going. Those who stay, stay to help bring down that bastard of a snake that's stolen my charges. Those who go, my only plea is to stay the hell out of my way."

_An elegant, older version of Yoko Kurama steps forward, his oxidized-copper irises nearly burying the elliptical pupils. _"You have the vows of the Gemsong Clan to follow your cause, Daughter of Winter," _Ciarden Avalon tells the smaller female in his deep baritone. _"Only one of the children is ours by blood now, but you claim them as yours, and you are ours. So we will fight for them, tooth and nail."

"My thanks, my sire," _Yoko murmurs, having moved to join his mate. Now he places a broad tanned hand on the silk-clad shoulder of his father, a shared, brief smile of understanding passing between them. _"But I suggest we get moving or my aisuhana will be bringing the sky down on our heads, I fear fair literally."

"Damn straight," _growls the woman, striding forward with a nod of acceptance to the leader of her mate's birth-clan. _"We don't have the luxury of time. If Higurashi actually completes the ceremony, I tell you now we can forget about the frying pan, because we'll be burned to a crisp by the fire."

"Beloved," _Yoko begins to question, _"what is this ceremony?"

_All her years of living darken the cat-green eyes to something almost black in the night, as her scowl melts into a still mask, a twin to the one Hiei wears as he falls into step beside her once more._ "To summon the Final Dragon from the depths of Makai."

_Obsidian squawks from the Void in total harmony with his taller teacher, leaning so far forward towards the surface of the pool that his nose almost touches the surface. _"THAT dragon?" _demands Ciarden in something akin to relief._ "But the Final went into Sleep so as to avoid bringing destruction to our world."

"True. But that was when the dragon had a mind."

_"This is so confusing," Obsidian mutters, his breath disturbing the image in a featherlight ripple. "I didn't think it had lost its mind." Hiei says much the same thing, crimson eyes narrowed into an expression rarely seen nowadays in the company of his own sweetheart Kohaku._

"The Final still wanted to watch,"_ Aislin replies, toneless._ "So it chose one of the best families in Makai and bequeathed its mind to the youngest of each generation. Every time another child was born, whoever possessed a fragment of that mental packet unconsciously passed it on, since the fragment was only to be carried in the bottom of its inheritors' minds."

_Several of those listening in hiss in understanding, seeing where the history goes._ "So it was passed down not long ago to five siblings, melded into two when three of that litter perished then melded once again into a single mind when one of the remaining pair also died. Even though the second child has returned to life, that mind in its entirety now rests in the single subconscious of Obsidian Avalon, remaining holder of the Avalon heritage."

_"What, I'm part dragon?" the black fox wonders aloud while those in the pool's reflection display various expressions of shock. They'd expected something a little different, but they weren't off by much. Even Yoko looks floored; in all his histories of his family, he'd never come across mention of this._

"So why didn't I know?"

"The secret was 'lost' several generations back," _Aislin explains. _"I know about this particular story because I talked to the Sunstone extensively when it was in my possession. Same with the Blood-Star Ruby and the Eternity Lily. Koenma knew because he marked every file of every member of the Avalon tribe who carried a mind-fragment. It leaves a specific mark on the souls of its bearers. Obsidian is technically the last living member of that ancient tribe of kitsune, so he holds it all."

_"You aren't part dragon, Obsidian Avalon," comes the Sunstone-Soul's even voice from behind the black fox. "You merely hold the consciousness of the Final Dragon somewhere in your mind. The only reason that the serpent has taken both of you is because he believes that since Ivory is once more in a corporeal body, she must have regained her own half of the fragments. Such is not the case."_

_"I'd wondered why Koenma kept me so long in Isolation," murmurs the young renard, sitting back on his heels, eyes closed. "He wanted me safe from the reach of people like the snake."_

_"Correct," sighs the summer-scented being. "Though we, too, played a part, because the five stones are the keys to the mind. The snake played us all for fools, and off me and mine's desire to be rejoined into one Self."_

_"But you're still split into five," Ivory-Zephyr points out, making her own unsteady way to the pool's edge with the aid of Ruby-soul._

_"Because the ceremony has not yet been performed. Our physical form will be summoned, the blood of our guardians spilled, and spells cast. When that happens, if it happens, the worlds will be doomed. For our mind," a translucent hand touches Obsidian uncertainly on his head, "will be gone and our body pliant to the commands of whosoever holds our icon."_

_"How do we stop it?" This from the youngster whose head is being touched. _

_"One of us dies." The response is neutral, indifferent. "To restore the mind of our Self to its entirety, your blood would be spilled. To prevent it entirely, one of us five dies, and leaves the icon shattered back into its components." A firmer pat this time, now that Sun-Soul is certain that its contact will not be rebuffed. "However, given the nature and abilities of those who love you, I would suggest we wait on courting sweet Death until it is proved whether or not they can handle the situation."_

_Deciding that what the Sun-soul says has merit, Obsidian nods and rises, the view in the pool dissipating in a flurry of ripples. Giving his sister a light peck on the cheek for reassurance, the black fox makes his way to the massive cherry tree that still flings clouds of pink petals to the slight breeze. This is his representation of his Soul, the very core of himself, and he draws comfort from its touch as he climbs onto one of the lower branches to seek out restorative sleep._

——

Yusuke Urameshi stands in the entrance to the Lair, his chocolate eyes trained on the spire that reaches into the crimson sky. When footsteps reach his ears, he says without moving, "I don't like this, fox-boy. What is she thinking up there?"

Yoko sighs heavily, only just now having organized the Lair into some sort of cohesive rage with Ikazuchi's help, instead of the chaotic mess it had been just an hour or so past. "I don't know what Aislin is thinking, Yusuke. That kind of intuitive thought is beyond anyone who doesn't have Oracle blood in their veins. That's the nicest reason of why most of her demonic relations chose not to attend the wedding. They have already seen it in visions."

Ever tactful, Yusuke asks, "What are the other reasons?"

Yoko appears to search for the least harmful words to explain. "The others…do not see Aislin for herself. They either did not know, didn't see the reason for coming, or simply did not care. Even among youkai, Yusuke, those who are like Aislin are seen to be…overly unique in terms of bloodlines. To have such diversity of skills is often frowned upon."

Yusuke isn't so nice. "You mean they see her as a freak."

"I suppose that's the closest human approximation. More like she is seen to be dangerous, too powerful, nevermind the fact that diversity brings strength and most of the lower-class demons would literally kill for that kind of power. Most youkai are of the purist mind-set: the purer your blood, the better you are. Those whose lineage are of purest stock are given deference, or force others to be subservient to their whims because their arrogance in their stupidity makes them believe they are worthy of that kow-towing."

"Your folk seem to like her just fine."

"The Gemsongs, I am pleased to say," Yoko replies delicately, "are not nearly so close-minded as most. They welcome those of broad heritage precisely because of that added strength."

"What does breeding matter when someone different and nastier than you is about t' chop you into tiny pieces?" Yusuke finishes rhetorically. "So what do you suppose she's doing up there?"

"Preparing, I'd wager."

Then in a soft boom of displaced air the subject of their conversation appears in front of them, only to stride into the Lair without bothering to acknowledge them. The pair hear her voice from inside, raised over the shouting her presence commences. "All right! Out of those of you who are staying to guard our loot I need four, one of each Element. And if anyone else can think of a particular element that might help, speak up."

"Lightning," offers Ikazuchi, to a shout of dismay from the thieves.

"Good idea, Thief King. Any others?"

"Wood," calls several. Aislin chooses one named Deicham and moves on. In the end, not only has she chosen the four basics, but also Lightning, Wood, Metal and Spirit, the last a relatively new member that is, surprisingly, half Oracle youkai. Yoko and Yusuke had since walked in to watch, only to find her leading her eight chosen down into the depths of the Lair.

"She's taking them to the Crystal Chamber," Yoko murmurs under his breath. "What spell could she be casting that would have her cast it there?"

"Spell?" probes Yusuke.

"Well, what else could it be, when she's borrowing a balance of eight Elements?"

Indeed, Yoko is correct. Once the eight are arranged on the alternating compass points, Aislin raises a magical barrier from her place in the center, powered by the strength contained in the spires filling the room. "I am only going to borrow a grain of your strengths," she tells them solemnly, "nothing more. The support of your elements is what I'm truly needing."

"Aislin-sama," the lightning-wolf Ikazuchi replies, butter-yellow orbs gentle, "I think I speak for most, if not all in this Lair, when I say that our very lives are in your command."

"So long as you leave my actual soul intact, cousin," her cousin from the Oracle youkai—named of all things, 'Prometheus'—adds in a lighthearted tone, "I shan't begrudge you the rest of me."

Their hero only closes cat-green eyes, a single, clear gem pinging to the stone floor. "Thank you." And then no other breath is wasted on conversation, as Aislin releases the energy she's stored in the crystals down to the dregs. Energy, glowing a clean shade that would match the Mediterranean Sea, floods the small space and draws echoes from the others standing in their places, creating an effect not unlike the Aurora Borealis.

Aislin stands in the center of a vortex, every iota of her concentration locked into keeping this drowning strength tame, her palm coming to rest on her lower abdomen. This is the strongest spell she has ever come across, and she will not be chaunting it for herself.

_"One for the glory,_

_Two against scorn,_

_Three is the precious child unborn._

_Four against mourning,_

_Five against wrong,_

_Six for the Circle's unending song._

_Seven for sunlight,_

_Eight for the Moon,_

_Nine is the shield, the eternity rune."_

Beneath her hand traces a pair of circles, each marked into quarters by the symbols of their element. In the center, visible through her palm, is a ninth, that of her own natural element, Ice. The seal she calls the Life Shield sinks through her clothes and into her skin, to wrap her unborn child in the strongest protections known anywhere in the three worlds. No matter what happens now, even if someone were to actually cut her head off, her body would continue functioning long enough to birth this child at the end of a year's gestation.

_"Keep my young safe._

_Protect them from harm._

_No matter the cost,_

_So sayeth this charm."_

And for a brief instant, as is often the case with spells of such caliber, the room is plunged into breathless darkness for the length of a heartbeat. No matter what now, her baby is safe, and it with a feeling of long-tensed muscles being released that she shifts into her most natural form, eyes of a tropical sea taking in her slightly-stunned comrades. Ikazuchi waves off her concern, his own eyes slightly unfocused.

She will be facing a dragon. She would never doubt that the scum she'll be stalking has already begun preparations to summon the Last Dragon from the depths of Makai. And while she may be old and powerful enough to make the worlds quake, this foe will literally be older than dirt, with strength enough to crush her with little effort.

But this foe also holds the lives and very souls of her chosen cubs in peril; she is fox enough, and stubborn enough, to not step down. Tanned hands snap her from her dark thoughts, and she looks up into the eyes of her grown captain, now peer, as he settles his jacket over her shoulders.

"Go get the bastard for us, Aislin," the lightning-wolf tells her in a husky voice. "Teach him why no one messes with the Lair, or you." He leans down, lips brushing her ear. "And don't let that fear I smell win out. No one beats the Winter Rose, the Whiteout. Not King Yama, not Death, not a moldy old dragon. You've got our vote of confidence, boss-lady."

A tiny thrill of pleasure overrides the stress that had been winding her nerves tight. For the first time in her memory, the man who is leader of these thieves has dropped that damned honorific. "You called me Aislin, Ikazuchi. It's about damned time."

"I might just make a habit of it," Ikazuchi deadpans, making Aislin's lips turn up in the start of an involuntary smile. "Now get going. The twins can't wait forever."

Prometheus catches up to her in the corridor, the lamp-light gleaming off his straight curtain of teal hair and distant, unfocused black eyes. "I see a different kind of battle ahead, cousin," he tells her in the voice he is only heard using in visions. "Only one being, but many shapes, fighting a creature of gold. It cannot be any other than you and the dragon."

"The end?"

"I cannot see that far, my cousin, and for that my apologies." She dismisses the guilt with a quick shoulder-squeeze. "But what I feel tells me that this battle is yours. It means almost certain suicide, but there is the sense that if it goes otherwise, what allows you to succeed will not manifest."

"So I will win?"

"I hope so, my cousin, I truly do. But fog clouds the certainty of that. Trust in Luck and Fate, dear heart, and all the tricks you've got up your pretty sleeve."

"Thank you, cousin." And she continues to the main cavern alone, the Oracle youkai going back to the Crystal Chamber, his slender fingers finding that single clear gem half-hidden behind a cluster gone dull, now that the youki no longer sustains it. A gentle touch and a small effort lights the cluster of lavender crystals, shading them more of a royal purple in pastel. The other seven have already lit what they can; this is the sanctuary of their beloved friend and they will not see it ruined. Should she survive, she will likely need it in the days to come.

———————————————————————————

Fallen: a race of demi-gods who were once worshipped by humans. When the religions began to fight amongst themselves, the Fallen abandoned the senseless, purposeless slaughter and fled to Makai as exiles. They are held in contempt by some, fear by others, and suspicion by the rest.

Prometheus: Foresight

Oh, just wait. I have a super-duper cliffie waiting for you in the next chapter. Bwahahaha!


	22. Chapter 21: An Uneven Battle

**Lene**: Of course. Problem is, the stars of the next one are being very stubborn. I think I might have worked out my current writer's block, but I'm not holding my breath. Luke and Craig can be persnickety.

**Peeka-chan**: ACK! _—thud— _OW! Help! Rabid reviewer!

**Silverwing013**: Yes, nice twist with Yomi, wasn't it? And I'm the author, I'm supposed to give them trouble or there wouldn't be a story. Can you imagine if there wasn't? "One day there was a fox who fell in love, and he and his mate lived happily ever after. The end."

**Shadespirit**: Welcome! I'm glad you liked Winter's Rose. As you can see, you get plenty of Aislin in this one, ne? As for the upcoming battle, it's not quite like that. Higurashi needs the Avalons alive—specifically Obsidian—in order to maintain his hold on the dragon. If the container for the mind dies, then the mind returns to the dragon, nullifying the whole thing. Not what 'Rashi wants.

**Kitsune Kit**: I promise Aislin will get out of this relatively intact. I refuse to guarantee anyone else. Yes, Higurashi is a bastard, as all of my best villains are.

**EHI**: Isn't he cool? I modeled him after my dad. Only my dad doesn't have quite the same figure—then again, he hasn't spent a thousand years whacking sense into a bunch of Seelie elves. My dad's just as stubborn, protective, and wickedly-humored. Yes, Higurashi is a prick, we've already covered this, Kit-chan quite…um…emphatically. ¬.¬! Hi, Angela!

**Rikka-chan**: Oh, yes, I got the picture. -,.,-! I think is the worst-hated villain I've ever created. Wow. I've been to Mammoth, nice place. Fantastic view, but I went when the weather was warm. They have ants the size of Chihuahuas in the summer. Cool, huh? Besides our favorite little black fox, those with fuzzy ears include Yoko, Aislin, Kohaku, Ikazuchi (when he makes an appearance). Of those, I think Kohaku would be the only one you'd have access to petting. Oh, there's also Ivory. You might be able to pet her.

Obsidian: _—continues purring—_

**DevilDucky1304**: Aislin, I promise, will live, but she won't be thrilled about it.

**Digitaldestiny360**: I picked a random couple of names, goose. Besides, I doubt my 'Haru' is the same as your 'Haru', so desu ka? After all, my Haru is actually Obsidian in disguise. I'm glad you like my stories, I hope you keep reviewing! (Also, you weren't really annoying. I live with a psychotic Muse on a daily basis.)

Okay, everyone! I'm going to put up the last couple of chapters as a present for the end of this year! That way, I'll start a new story for a new year! This way, you also get to avoid the serious cliff-hanger I have at the end of this chapter. Aren't I so nice to you? n,.,n-♪

—————————————————————————

Despite uproarious protests, in the end, only the members of Team Urameshi head for the Barrens, the layer of the Makai where nothing but rocks and dirt grows, about four layers from the top. And even with the huge amount of ground to cover, it's no hard task to locate Higurashi or his proceedings. Not when to any nose keen enough to scent magic is lifted to the winds. All it takes is a quick yank on reality for Aislin to transport them to within a mile—as close as she wants to get via telekinesis, considering what she could land them on top of.

It's a wise decision. Even from a mile away, it's no hard task to see the giant ancestor of the blind earthworms coiling itself into one hell of a Gordian knot. Should Aislin have brought them in as close as Yusuke wanted, they would have been crushed by one of those tree-thick coils. The ice-fox hadn't wanted to bring even her team with her, but Yoko had flat out refused to let her go without him. And then Hiei had added in his two cents, giving her one of his potent stares while informing her that in no way could he allow two fluff-brained foxes such as themselves to go larking off on their own.

That of course had brought Kohaku into the equation, the wolf utterly adamant against letting her fluffy-fur fiancée to go romping with a dragon without her. "He could get scratched or something," she had protested to a frustrated-nearly-to-violence Aislin. Then Kuwabara had jumped in with his usual bluster about not letting a sweet girl like Kohaku go off with the likes of Hiei without a better escort than two vengeance-bent kitsune. Of course, that meant Yusuke had to come along as well to keep Kuwabara from getting himself killed.

So the fuming ice-fox has brought them all with her, but by no means are they going to be fighting _her_ battle. Yoko recognizes the battle-hunger on her; he's seen the signs before, when her temper had worn thin and she was itching for something—or someone—to take it out on. And if there's one thing he knows, it's how possessive she can be about her enemies.

The group runs closer, stopping when the dragon's thrashing form still comes down a few hundred yards away. Higurashi stands about the same distance away, in front of a rough-hewn stone altar, upon which are laid the still forms of Ivory and Obsidian. Thanks to Hiei's Jagan, his soul-sister is assured that they still live and breathe—and the fire apparition knows that it is that sole reassurance that keeps this layer from being covered in a coating of ice. The last time someone had incurred her grief, she had frozen over a portion of land by one of Makai's seas. And it has stayed frozen even without her presence for the last two decades.

"All right!" Yusuke enthuses, cracking his knuckles and taking a step forward, "Let's bag us a dragon!"

A white-clad arm blocks his path. "You're not fighting it."

Disbelief. "You aren't fighting that thing alone, Aislin! It'll crush you to powder!"

"Perhaps." And even Hiei is unsettled by that flat tone to her voice. "But it will die even as it does so. And before you scold me on the risks of my unborn child, precautions rivaling that of the Kekkai barrier have already been laid down."

The fire apparition is standing just a step ahead of her, so he is able to turn and see her face. It is a pitiless mask, the water-tinted orbs as familiar to him as his own crimson gone cold and empty. No, not empty, frozen, crystalline. There is only a deadly resolve shining out of them now; the paled blue rings of her pupils carved from the heart of a glacier.

He is the one to turn to Yusuke and shake his spiked head in a minute gesture of warning. Hurt, bewildered, the Spirit Detective backs off, leaving his friend to make her way alone into the dragon's sphere of awareness.

Aislin's mental shields are as tight as she can make them, with a number added just to make sure that her thoughts would be impossible to be read by anyone. Because despite her brave and merciless front, her very life is flashing before her eyes in that annoying, cliched movie fashion.

She is the most physically and spiritually strong person that she is aware of in terms of pure energy. The Sleeping Ones are likely stronger, and those few beings known as World-Shapers who keep things in balance, but she isn't aware of knowing any of them. Yet despite her strength, her enemy now holds greater strength than she and the very souls of her chosen young in peril. The only edge she might possess is the fact that without its mind, the dragon is only half of itself without ability to draw on its full strength.

Magic and technique takes will.

The will is the soul and the mind.

Without the mind, one cannot use magic or techniques.

There is no telling what will happen during this battle. All Aislin can be sure of is that it's going to hurt.

A lot.

_"Aren't you cold? It's gotta be somewhere around twenty degrees out here."_

The dragon finally takes notice of her, the deer-like head with its molten bronze eyes watching her approach with all the concentration of a snake for a bird. It pisses her off, taking away a fraction of her atavistic fear. This thing is huge; a rough estimate of size would equate it to at least ten of the America's Sequoia or Redwoods, a good third of that a whip of a tail, barbed and gleaming with its metal scales. The whole creature, when taken in at a distance, would appear to be some form of gold-smith's fantastic work come to life, right down to the teeth as long as her arm and the claws bigger than she is.

But those molten eyes hold no spark of comprehension in them. Obsidian hadn't died in the summoning spell, so it is still lacking the crucial component, its' mind. In one mercurial motion her hands are filled with the familiar weight of her ice-katana and something at last fills those blank brass eyes.

Rage.

_"I've never met someone like you, you're interesting."_

A high-pitched whistle accompanies the lashing of that steel-cable tail, slamming into the rocky ground where Aislin had been standing a moment before. Something chimes off the ruddy gold scales and Aislin reappears atop one pointed spire, ruefully examining the shattered remains of the hilt in her hand before tossing it away to form a complicated hand-kata.

"Frozen voices of the distant north," she begins to intone, only to once more dodge when the dragon's mouth clamps down on her spire's needle-like tip, her hands remaining in that position as she takes up a new perch.

_"What's a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?"_

"I call upon your chains of lightning…" Slam! Another close call, this time the tail comes so close that it tears a long rent in one white wool sleeve. For the third time Aislin relocates to the top of a particularly tall spire out of reach of head and tail.

_"'Just me' indeed! You could have killed me with that!" Indignant gold eyes gaze reproachfully at her from beside the ice-kunai vibrating in a tree trunk._

"Sing your bonds around my enemy…" Hiei surges forward a couple of steps at the sight of Kin'iro-Ryu picking up a large boulder with its tail and flinging it at a wide-eyed ice apparition. Apparently, even without a mind to reason, some things are still perfectly obvious to a strategist, born and bred.

"MOVE, SNOWFLAKE!" Ka-boom! There comes a pained cry as the top of the spire shatters upon impact, knocking Aislin off her perch and forcing her to abandon her near-completed spell. Yoko moves as though to head for Aislin's rescue despite her firm command to stay put, but a grim-face Yusuke and Kuwabara clamp hands down onto his shoulders. Kohaku moves to stand beside Hiei, her hand seeking his and twining their fingers together in an effort to find some measure of comfort.

In an uncanny effect of sympathetic Empathy, the wolf's eyes have turned that molten bronze, caught up by Aislin's effort to reveal her own full strength. If he hadn't had Yusuke or Aislin to compare that strength to, Hiei would be dazzled. But it is still shockingly impressive for a eighteen-year-old, pure-blood wolf to be ranked at A-class.

_Yoko blocked her way and she'd growled at him. "Move, baka kitsune."_

_"On one condition."_

_"That I don't gut you where you stand?"_

_That grin that she'd used to despise had somehow managed to get bigger. "That you go out on a date with me."_

"Aislin!" roars Yoko, head twisting wildly in an effort to locate his beloved.

"Hn. Calm down, fox." Hiei's entire body is implacable, his garnet eyes searching the field for some flash of white. "The snowflake isn't going to die that easily." He stiffens and jerks his chin off to the left, triumph and the barest hint of relief flickering in the depths of his eyes. "See?"

A bruised Aislin now stands on the ground in front of the rampaging creature with her hands full of some glistening green powder. She shouts something no one can understand and flings it into the air just as those formidable jaws come darting in again.

The dragon recoils in apparent agony, claws scoring on its muzzle as it tries to rid itself of whatever horrid thing has coated its mouth with sticky green goop. Aislin takes the time during her distraction to once again find a high perch and resume her spell.

"Frozen voices of the distant north, I call upon your chains of lightning. Bind my enemy into death by the glory of your light!" She flickers out of view, reappearing between the relatively stationary shoulderblades and slamming her sparking hands down on the scaled back. /"Shaeth'orrin!"/

Everyone flings their arms up to protect their faces as a huge lightning-bolt sizzles from an empty sky to smash into the writhing dragon, exploding into clouds of dust as the rock below liquefies, turns to glass, hits flash point and powders. When the dancing spots are able to be blinked away, Aislin is standing several yards away from a limp golden body coiled loosely in a shallow crater. Shallow being a relative term: the hole is a deep enough concavity to bring the highest point of Kin'iro-Ryu flush with the ground surface.

Yusuke and Kuwabara begin to breathe sighs of relief as their friend slowly turns and takes a few steps towards Higurashi…only to have a huge, horned, deer-like head rear up behind her.

Yoko screams out the warning. "AISLIN! BEHIND!"

_"I'll have you know you were easier to take care of half-dead."_

Another dust cloud is raised by that lethal tail, a spire crumbling when a small body rockets into it, that splash of white getting buried under the falling rubble. "Shit," Hiei curses softly, swiftly sending out a telepathic thread to his soul-sib to check her condition. A low, furious hissing fills his mind: Aislin muttering every single curse she knows in every language she knows at top speed. Somehow, Hiei isn't as relieved as he should be that his soul-sister is capable of continuing her fight.

_"You're wasted on the underworld, Aisu-san. If you ever think about joining a good merc band, think o' me first. I'd love to have you as co-captain."_

The silver fox stops trying to free himself from the hands gripping his upper arms and shoulders when the pile explodes outwards, that petite white-clad form standing in the middle of the resulting shower of debris, blood running down her face from a forehead slice and from her nose. Thankfully for her, the cartilage had remained intact despite the abuse.

"That hurt, you know," she tells her opponent in a dangerously calm voice. Hiei winces and takes a few steps backwards, pulling Kohaku with him. He knows perfectly well what's about to happen and he wants to make damned sure neither of them are going to be caught in the backlash. After a split second the remaining three males follow his example.

Black-gloved hands are lifted into the air as Aislin steps from the rubble and begins a sway-hipped approach to the abruptly-still wurm now eyeing her in suspicion. Wordless singing rises from her throat and rings through the still air—Yoko blanches and hauls everyone back another twenty feet or so.

The serpentine neck curves upward, then that elongated head begins to sway in time to the melody being sung to it, a cobra dancing to the music of his keeper. Then Aislin gets within touching range.

KA-BOOM! A reaction not unlike a miniature nuclear bomb being dropped—Hiei had had the dubious honor of being present at Hiroshima, and has thanked the gods every time he remembers about it that demons are immune to radiation poisoning—lights up the area for half a second before the world drops out from under everyone's feet. The swirling cloud of noxious-looking gas dissipates just feet in front of the gathered team, Hiei muttering curses at himself under his breath for underestimating Aislin's power.

Breaths are held as the gas fades away, the dust and debris settling and allowing visibility of the area again. There's a really big crater, but no sign of the dragon.

Or of Aislin.

"AISLIN!" screams Yoko, surging against the holds his friends are keeping with more difficulty. Kohaku can see their fingertips digging into his flesh and spares a wince; those are going to be some stellar bruises come tomorrow.

"_What_?" echoes in irritation over the plain. A pile of dust shifts, then spills outward when Aislin stands up, baleful gaze locked on the crater she's just made bigger. Scratched hands brush off dust, and the ice-fox winces when she is unable to spare her bloodied nose from a hard sneeze. "Damned dragon. I know it can't have been that easy. Where is it?" From across the open space, Higurashi watches it all with his cold, calculating black eyes, still holding the sculpture of the summoned wurm in his clawed hands.

From above comes a furious roar and Aislin once more leaps to the side as over a ton of scaled muscle slams into the ground where she had been standing less than a split second before, while the wind of Kin'iro-Ryu's controlled tumble blasts bits of rock across the lifeless ground.

_"You wouldn't be laughing if you had to deal with her on a pixie-trip."_

Everyone watches in horror when Aislin reappears less than a hundred yards away and takes the very tip of that lethal tail full in the chest, to go flying back into another spire that crumbles around her. Yoko fights for real now against his comrades, desperate to not let his ice-flower fight alone…or die alone. But yet again that battered form rises from the rubble to fix the snarling creature before her with a frozen hatred blazing in those jeweled eyes.

_"Vindictive little vixen, yes, she is."_

"You want to play rough, do you, you damned minion?" she hisses softly, crooking her hands into claws and dropping into a deep crouch. "Fine. We'll play rough." Everyone stares as her body shifts, elongates the slightest bit as translucent dragonfly wings unfurl from her shoulders to vibrate there, producing a harsh buzzing noise as her hair lengthens, her ears point further, every part of her taking on an ethereal quality.

Hiei takes a deep breath as a form he'd only seen a few times in his life makes a reappearance. "She's tapped into her faerie blood, that's not a good sign."

"Why not?" demands Kohaku from right behind him, her fists clenched at her side as she watches. "Why is that not a good sign?"

Garnet eyes flick to meet bronze ones. "Because it means she's beginning to lose her temper. That she's shifted to anything besides her kitsune or her koorime form always means she's getting dangerously angry." He looks back to watch as the snarling, deceptively-fragile looking female darts in and out of range, scoring long bloody gashes down the dragon's body with her claws. "Let's hope she doesn't forget everything and go berserk."

"What do we do if she does?" grunts Yusuke, hands full with writhing, fighting silver kitsune.

Hiei's reply is quite simple. "We run."

An eldritch howl echoes over the battlefield as the dragon's tossing head slams into Aislin's side and sends her flying for the third time into stone. There's not many spires left near the rock-strewn space now, and those that are aren't looking too stable. Rising from the rubble this time is someone no one has ever seen before.

Jet black hair spikes over midnight blue eyes in a face that shifts subtly every second, depending on how the light hits. The wool clothing has been traded for matte black leather, butter-soft and so form-fitting that it appears painted on. Black furred ears flick between flat against the skull to pointed as far forward as they can go; nine tails bush behind the slender legs.

Even Yoko pauses for a moment, caught off-guard by this stranger's face that echoes his beloved in one of her violent moods. The conjured beast lets out a sound that resembles thousands of tea-kettles going off at once; Dragon-tongue, which not even Hiei speaks.

"I hate you," comes a haunting, sexless voice from the pale throat. "I hate you very much. I haven't used this body in centuries and you force me to use it in just minutes. Do you have any idea…" The voice trails off when talons sweep towards that dark form, booted feet taking just a few steps backward into the shadow of the nearest spire and melting into it. Everyone stares when pale-skinned Aislin emerges from the shadow beneath Kin'iro-Ryu's belly and stabs a glittering katana deep into the gut. "…how much energy this takes?"

Those who are not gifted with a subsonic ability—namely everyone but Aislin—falls to their knees in agony as the dragon screeches in furious pain and thrashes around. Aislin melts back into the shadow and reappears less than twenty feet away from Higurashi, the only other shadows being the ones that the still forms of the kits and the lizard demon cast; she'd use those and simply steal Obsidian and Ivory back, but those shadows are warded against such means already, to her disgust.

"Hiei," Kohaku grits out over the agonizing howls, "what form is that?"

"A mix," manages Hiei, his hands still clapped over his ears. "Her shadow and her fox blood. She's really pissed off, now. She's only used it once before and that was when some jackass decided that she'd make a good play-toy. She splattered him all over the tavern-room in one attack."

_"Overconfidence killed the kitsune, you know."_

Kuwabara looks about ready to knock Yoko out and sit on him to get the taller fox to hold still. "Then why isn't she using that now?" he demands.

"You want her to use something that will kill us all?" Hiei's disgust with Kuwabara is clear. "I was passed out so she couldn't sense my youki; if she had, I'd have been turned into paste along with the three or four others that had been in the room at the time. That attack focuses on _anything with a conscious energy signature__and a shadow_ within her range, moron."

"I know it ain't the time or place, but why were you passed out?" Yusuke inquires, sweeping Yoko's feet out from beneath the fox and sitting on his back, hands pinning the muscular shoulders to the ground. The fox yowls several suggestions of anatomically-impossible acts for Yusuke to perform while he attempts to free himself.

"I was barely fifty at the time, Detective. I hadn't learned how to pace myself when drinking Takanada's Demonslayers." The mildly embarrassing facts are spat out with little regard to this piece of blackmail he'd just given them: all of Hiei's real attention is focused on the dark body flickering in and out of his Sight.

His soul-sib shifts back into a form he knows almost as well as his own; an Arctic fox the size of a Rottweiler whose eight tails are bushed angrily behind her. Hiei bites the inside of his cheek to keep his dismay from showing: despite the fact that she's making it look close to effortless to dodge those vicious attacks, Aislin is losing energy at a rapid pace. It takes youki for her to shift, even if it's one of her bloodlines' various manifestations, and she's used up quite a bit by now. However, her claws and teeth are almost as effective as her faerie claws had been at rending metal-based scales.

"Give it up, Whiteout!" shouts Higurashi from across the battlefield, his voice mocking while he stands in front of the still bodies of the Avalon twins. "You'll die by my manipulations as surely as that Frenchman the toddler hired did!"

_Sunlight reflecting off stained-glass windows, shimmering up from the grass with heat she would never feel as such. A tall, brunette male with grieving brown eyes tempered by some form of…pleasure? At seeing her? Surely not. "His real name was Anthony Barbarac, and he was of the lesser nobility."_

_A rueful rubbing of her jaw. "He had a hell of a roundhouse for a nobleman."_

Hiei instantly scoops up Kohaku and bolts for it, the other three males right on his heels with confusion reigning for both human-born young men.

"Hiei, why are we running?" demands Yusuke, garnet eyes gazing back over a black-clad shoulder.

"Remember what I said about her temper?" Kuwabara and Yusuke nod. "She just lost it."

A howl pours from Aislin's throat, the emotion contained within gone far, far beyond mere hot anger or frozen rage. With every passing second the aura around her body flares higher and higher, burning an ever-deeper shade of ice-green. Even the dragon looks a little taken aback at the energies suddenly flooding the battlefield.

Now so far away as to be barely able to see anything, the rest of Team Urameshi gathers, Hiei still feeling distinctly uncomfortable at being even this close. Somewhere across the Makai, and on another level, perhaps. Maybe over in Ningenkai on the other side of the planet. Yeah. That might be far enough.

"That caught your attention, did it?" Higurashi laughs, holding that statue out in front of him as a sun-hued bubble encloses his prisoners and himself. "I'll bet you didn't know that I tipped off the authorities about the raid for that Summer Stone your handsome fox went after, either. Oh, the look on your face was priceless, Whiteout. Absolutely priceless."

_Serious, loving eyes the color of newly-minted gold coins gazed down at her from within a smiling face. "If the worst should happen, I will be back before ten years pass. This I swear on my blood and bones, and all the treasure in the world. Wo ai ni, my white rose."_

Yoko turns to Hiei when the fire apparition's face grows grim. Sharp eyes pick out the violet glimmer behind that familiar snowy bandanna and make the connection. "Hiei, what did Higurashi just say?" A louder note of concern. "And why is your hair beginning to flatten?"

Hiei starts edging backwards, his birthright eyes gone wide with horror and anger. He's torn between those two emotions as he continues to slowly reverse. "HIEI!" Yusuke shouts. "Spit it out already!"

"Higurashi was the informant that lost you your kitsune body and fifteen years of your life with Aislin, Kurama. It's his fault, and he just admitted it. _And he's laughing._"

Yoko's golden eyes are now fearful, pupils mere pinpoints within the metallic irises as he stares across the expanse of rubble-filled land that separates him and his beloved. "Are you sure this is far enough, Hiei?" he asks faintly, joining the fire apparition in his careful retreat.

"Not. Even. Close."

All of the battle-aura that had been incandescently twining around the white-furred body vanishes as though turned off with a switch. Her thick snowy pelt flattens from the upward rush as blank turquoise orbs travel to meet gloating ebony ones. Hiei watches and listens to it all with his useful Jagan, forehead furrowed in concentration while he tries to observe without tripping.

One snowy paw lifts and comes down thistledown-light closer to Higurashi in a circle of frost. The dragon is forgotten. Her elegant head, the ears tipped with that color too deep for blood, too bright for wine, turns towards her new target. That sinuous body follows as she slowly starts walking step by delicate step on a frosted beeline for the snake-youkai who has all at once realized that he has just dug his own grave.

"You dared to put my life-mate, my beloved, at risk, Higurashi?" Hiei starts to get very edgy. The tone she's using doesn't _sound_ dangerous; it's perfectly calm, polite—sweet even. But it's that empty, soulless smile baring snowy fangs that flattens his crest to his head and makes him start running flat-out, followed by everyone else.

There's not enough space in the three worlds that would keep them safe right now.

Nowhere.

But he's making the effort anyway. And while he does, the Jagan continues to watch it all.

Aislin continues her slow pace towards the frightened youkai holding her adopted children as ransom, little patches of ice-crystals sprouting and dissolving with every footstep. She's still in fox-form, but her fur is turning almost crystalline in texture, catching every stray beam of light in its silken depths. "I'd like an answer to my question, Higurashi."

Kin'iro-Ryu slams down in front of her, lowering its head to roar point-blank in her face. She walks around it in a meager acknowledgement of its existence. Brilliant metallic eyes in a golden head twist to follow her, the dragon making a quizzical sound at this abrupt change in its enemy's demeanor. Has furry-thing forgotten that it can rip furry-thing's head off as soon as it can catch furry-thing?

If Yusuke could see the beast now, he'd recognize the overall expression. He'd felt the same way when he'd first met Aislin in the office of Koenma, Prince of Reikai, three years ago—when Koenma had wanted to test his Spirit Detective's strength against her. She'd given him a brief greeting, an equally brief lesson in minor Demonic Agreements, and had turned to Hiei as though the youkai-descended boy didn't exist. His match with her had been…an experience.

_"You forgot to disable the cameras."_

Once again the dragon roars in that high-pitched whistling that is Dragon-tongue—it almost sounds insulting. But it makes Aislin turn back to face it with that curiously empty face. "The only reason you are still alive right now is because I'm allowing you to live. Do not think to challenge me right now, world-shaper. For if you were to attack me in my current mood, I would be having dragon sashemi for supper tonight."

For some reason this reply to its provocation has Kin'iro-Ryu hissing angrily and snapping at those pretty ten tails swinging slowly behind the fox. And then it yelps and goes tumbling backwards as Aislin spins into her human form and delivers a devastating back-fist to the scaly jaw at the same time.

_"I'm just going to admit she's got one heck of a right hook and leave it at that."_

Hiei grabs onto Yoko's arm and hauls them both to a halt, a low whistle escaping between his teeth while he watches the dragon pull itself back onto its feet, shaking its head in a dazed fashion. "Hold up, fox. She's starting to take the edge off and treated that thing to one of her patented spinners." Everyone else slows, turns, then gathers around the clairvoyant, who closes garnet eyes to see his visions better. "But I don't think we can head back just yet; she's channeling her siren blood again."

"Siren?" Yusuke and Kuwabara blink at each other. "Like what's on top of cop cars?"

Kohaku smacks the boys upside the head in a display of annoyance. "No, you twits! Sirens were a big part of Greek mythology, not just the cop cars' noisemakers. They were kinda like naiads, water-maidens, who had the most beautiful voices in the world. Anyone who heard them singing lost all sense of themselves and would try to follow the singing back to the sirens on their island, drowning themselves because almost no one knew how to swim back then. Haven't you ever read the _Iliad_?"

Far away, Aislin smirks inwardly, picking this all up with her own Jagan, not opened but awake, thanks to the fact that she's calling on all aspects of her lineage for this fight. For them to have read Homer's tales, they would have had to bother going to school first. Well, she amends in her thoughts, Kuwabara might have read it sometime in his growing thirst for knowledge, but as sure as she's breathing Yusuke hasn't. What no one else but the two Jagan-holders know is that Aislin isn't the only one in their group to have siren blood running through her veins. Hiei does, too, that's why when he got dragged to a karaoke bar by Kohaku, Kurama and herself, he sang that song as though he'd done it a hundred times.

_"Hiei, _please_ sing for us? Pretty, pretty please?"_

She gracefully sidesteps another strike of Kin'iro-Ryu's tail and opens her mouth. Beautiful music tumbles forth, the koorime's entire body getting into the slow rhythm while she sings, dancing a slow circle around the dragon, every motion seeming to be uncalculated but perfectly timed to dodge every attack her opponent makes. Said wurm is now curious as to why pretty ice crystals are sprouting in the now-not-furry-thing's wake, leaning in close to see better.

Apparently Kin'iro-Ryu is unable to see youki, that, or it's simply so used to seeing it with everything that the large quantities making each spire glow means nothing to it. Hiei's expression reminds a watching Kohaku of nothing but what Kurama had looked like the morning after the fox had introduced her to the only kosher rave-club in their ward. Relieved, resigned, and somewhat testy.

_"There goes my perfect-idol image right out the window. Goodbye, and good riddance."_

Through his Jagan, Hiei watches Aislin close the circle and step out, the fire apparition's arm snaking out to grab Kohaku, pulling her close against him as his soul-sister raises her arms yet again and chants. "Moon's faerie ring, oh come to earth, come grant the wish I've sung. Bring death to all within your hold and on the chosen one!" Forget nuclear explosion. A wall of air filled with red rock-dust and the glittering of crushed dragon scales torn loose in the fight rushes the distant Team with hurricane force.

_"Get inside the castle, Detective," Hiei had commanded, pointing towards the gigantic gates. The two human boys had begun to protest—Kurama had wisely already begun to sprint for the doors—and were silenced by a second, louder command by Aislin and the reinforcement of a mild telepathic shock from two minds._

"_Move your ass, Urameshi!"_

Yoko snags both fire apparition and wolf and shoves them behind him, while Yusuke grabs onto Kuwabara and spreads his feet into a defensive stance. Even so prepared, the strength of the wind-wall nearly has them tumbling end over end—it's Kuwabara who helps out Yusuke when the demon-kin male is hit in the head by a surprisingly large rock and loses his balance. The carrot-top sinks his Spirit Sword into the ground and uses it for a handle while his other arm is engaged in keeping a stunned Spirit Detective in place, the blood-red wind shrieking past them.

Finally it dies down and Hiei risks peering around Yoko's ribcage, the silver fox slowly lowering his scratched and bleeding arms away from his face. The back of his wrist, heavily gashed by some piece of shrapnel, is gingerly licked at to clean it and stop the blood-flow. The only sounds besides falling pebbles is a hard coughing in a familiar alto.

Aislin stands near the edge of a charcoaled circle blasted flat, at least two hundred feet in diameter; most of it is taken up by the sinuous body of Kin'iro-Ryo, with nary a twitch to betray the spark of life. The white wool covering most of the pale koorime is ripped, bloody, or so covered in dust that it's impossible to tell that it had been snow-white at the beginning of this battle. Still gasping for breath, Aislin gives her team-mates a long-distance sideways look with the barest hints of triumph beginning to liven dulled turquoise eyes.

_"Well, damn, and here I was all worried that I'd get my ass kicked and everything."_

Aislin chuckles to herself at that cheery memory, Kohaku's reaction to seeing all of the so-called 'gotta-proves' waiting for the boat to Hanging Neck island, home of the Dark Tournament. It matches her feelings perfectly at the moment. Yusuke lets out a joyous whoop and pumps his fist into the air, everyone beginning to run over to their tired friend.

Hiei is the first to reach the still-coughing ice apparition, his garnet eyes gleaming with approval, respect, and relief. "Hn. Stop showing off, you crazy fox."

"What's—" cough, cough, "—the matter, Hiei?" Cough, cough, particularly hard cough that flecks her lips red. "Worried…about…me?"

Yoko produces a vial of something emerald-colored from his pocket-space and pops the cork with his thumb, advancing in a threatening manner on his beloved with a determined look on his face. "Koi, you're going to drink this even if I have to pour it down your damned throat."

Kohaku walks around behind the koorime and presses her hands against the tattered flesh stretched over no less than three broken ribs. "You're nearly tapped out, Aislin. Much more and your body would've collapsed whether you wanted to or not."

"_Hn. Reduced to baby-sitting yet again."_

The ice apparition pushes the vial away from her lips, swallowing the last of the potion with a sour expression. "Stop worrying…about me…and go kill…Higurashi, damn it!" Reminded by their companion as to why she was fighting the dragon in the first place, everyone not healing or Healing whirls towards the place where Higurashi stands.

He's still there, and looking remarkably unperturbed at the fact that his summoned dragon is face-down on the bare ground. Then he lifts up the _intact_ statue with a grin. Aislin's eyes widen as her own Jagan shows her this and loops her remaining energy around her friends, teleporting all but her away just when that golden body surges up and slams a rock-hard head into her side.

The rest of the gang materializes several hundred yards away, still in their various motions of running. Kuwabara trips and falls flat on his face, Kohaku is caught by Hiei and his hand on the back of her shirt before she can repeat the carrot-top's folly, and Yusuke and Yoko instantly stop. Of course, Yoko immediately takes off again in a dead sprint for his beloved and her attacker, who has her pinned and helpless to the second-to-last spire on the field.

Her broken ribs are screaming with every half-breath she can take with that heavy talon pressing her into the rock, her body finally registering the relative cold now that anger and most of her energy is gone. She's got enough youki for one last transformation and then she's either stuck with mundane attacks or resorting to body-energy and suicide. But what transformation to use? What can she be that is able to take on a full-grown ancient wurm?

Her head bows in defeat as she draws a blank, the shouts of her name barely registering. But they do, and they trigger a memory.

"_Hey, Aislin?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Can you actually turn into a dragon?"_

Aqua eyes snap open as the graceful head rears back, Kin'iro-Ryu plunging his head into a massive flurry of platinum dust that engulfs the spire and everything around it. Yoko screams his hopeless defiance and is tackled by Yusuke and Hiei at the same time.

…_"So…can you?"_

_------------------------------------- _

Aren't you lucky I decided to give you the next couple chapters for free? Kin'iro-Ryu means Golden Dragon. I had to have a name for him since I couldn't keep repeating myself with 'the dragon'.


	23. Chapter 22: Sacrifice

Silence. Then Higurashi's mocking laughter rings clear over some faint screeching sounds and the chink of falling glass. Yoko throws off his friends and bolts to his feet, prepared to chase after his love into death. But he stops.

And stares. Higurashi's laughter trails into silence.

Chink. Chink. Chink-chink.

The fervent but unintelligible cursing of Hiei can be heard clear across the field, as he takes in the sight of the gold dragon with its teeth sunk into the ice-plates armoring the left shoulder of a white-scaled, aqua-eyed dragon shoved against the spire, her graceful neck curved over the gold's own back.

"Well," comments the ice dragon in a sibilant, windy voice, "I suppose that answers _that_ question." A whip-thin tail cracks against the gold's rump with an annoyed flick. "Now get your teeth out of my shoulder this second, if you please."

Fangs are extracted from the cracked and shattered plating with the sound of metal-on-glass and Kin'iro-Ryu backs away slowly, hunched in a defensive position while Aislin examines her new self. The best word to describe her dragon-form is 'elegant', the overall effect resembling an Eastern dragon combined with one from the West.

A slender body bunches with a few more extra muscles at shoulders and hip, head tapered and slim-muzzled as a deer's with a single pair of spiraling sapphire horns curving up and back over a silky, snowy crest touched by vermilion. Oddly at home on this blending of forms is a pair of massive, heavily-scaled wings, the actual-sized versions of those Hiei and Yoko have seen numerous times before on the rare occasions when Aislin has preferred flying over ground-travel.

A huge sapphire is set into the opalescent scales on that broad forehead, gleaming in the dusty sunlight with all the radiance of the ocean. The scales are textured in such a pattern as to make it seem that the ice dragon has just rolled through drifts of fresh powder.

Those aqua eyes, now easily the size of her apparition body, turn from a detailed examination of the pearly claws tipping each toe on all four bird-like feet to the gold hissing angrily from a 'safe' distance away. Aislin uncoils from her seat and barrels into the summoned beast, rolling around and around with her jaws sunk deep into the softer scales below the gold's chin, her talons digging in for all they're worth.

In the distraction, Yoko comes back to his senses and starts creeping around the battle-field, wincing as high-pitched shrieks and whistles make his head vibrate in new, painful ways. His goal is the two still forms lying behind the hated reptile on that accursed altar. With any luck at all, he can reach them and steal Obsidian and Ivory away before Higurashi can notice.

Meanwhile Kuwabara, with one of his uncanny flashes of insight, grabs Yusuke's arm and points towards the writhing mass of fighting dragons with his eyes alight. "Urameshi!" he hisses to his friend, "Aislin said we can't get into _that_ brawl, right?"

"Yeah, or else I'd stick a Spirit Gun where the sun don't shine on that overgrown snake!"

A hard shake as Kuwabara says what has just hit him. "Did she say anythin' about messin' with _that_ snake?" And he points straight at Higurashi, too absorbed in the millennia's biggest fight to notice that more attention has been focused on him.

And it's not friendly attention, either.

Yusuke's sullen expression is replaced with a wicked, merry smile as he ponders the question. "No, Kuwabara, no she didn't." He shakes off the psychic's arm and takes a few steps forward, hand rubbing his chin as he calculates distance, angle, and chance of interception—all without being aware that he does so.

"Hn," grunts Hiei, "so the fool's only _partially_ useless."

"Go kiss a slug demon, you sorry excuse for a pincushion!"

Kohaku snickers while Yusuke scrambles to the last remaining spire in reach—well clear of the battle, it rises to a good thirty feet in the air, plenty of space for Yusuke to get around the dragons still hissing and spitting like cats crossed with snakes rolling in the dust. Hiei sighs and stands back, stolidly ignoring Kuwabara, who falls back into old patterns and continues ranting at the fire apparition.

——

_What none of them know about is the pain of the Avalon twins still in the Void, watching the titanic struggle between their chosen mother and the Final Dragon in their viewing pool. Watching the two dragons thrash on the ground, however, and seeing those lethal talons find the tiny chinks in between the heavy scales to rip away pieces of flesh, proves too much for Obsidian._

_With a grief-wracked cry the black fox leaps to his feet and runs once again for his sanctuary, his cherry tree. The Dragon-Self, now forged into one being for the first time in millennia, chooses to go after him with one reluctant look back at stone-faced Ivory, kneeling by the pond in silent weeping._

_Obsidian collapses against the gnarled trunk of his haven, feeling the sakura tumbling down in a heavier shower in an effort to bring peace, his shoulders shaking with the force of his despair. Strong, comforting arms draw him gently into an embrace, and he clings with all the strength in his 'body' to Dragon-Self. "It's not—it's not f-fair!" he hiccups to his guardian. "She sh-shouldn't have t-to do this!"_

_"No, young Obsidian," agrees Dragon-Self, "it's not fair, and she should not. Nor should any of us have to deal with any of what has occurred. But we've had to, because those are the desires of he who has summoned our physical form and controls our icon. Place the blame upon him, and him alone."_

_"But_ why_?" wails the poor renard. "Why should we _have_ to obey him?" _

_"Because that is sympathetic magic, sweet foxling, and there is nothing in this world of energy that can change that. No one has been able to utterly defy such magic since the time of its creation." A broad hand gently comes to rest between the flattened ears. "Nor will I simply allow you to find Death's embrace, either, not until they day you are fated to die comes. And that is not today."_

_"But—"_

_"NO." The degree of vehemence with which that denial is spoken shocks Obsidian into silence, except for a squeak that results from an unconscious tightening of Dragon's arms. Contrite, the spirit loosens its hold once again into that warm embrace. "No, Obsidian Avalon. Souls such as you and your sister are far too rare in this day and age. I will _not_ let your spark be put out prematurely."_

_"You don't talk much like a dragon."_

_The Spirit smiles wryly. "I've lived for several thousand years beyond my flesh. You learn things." For a while longer the pair stands there, until at last Obsidian's companion pulls slightly away. "There. Feel a little better?" When the young renard nods, his ears are ruffled in affection. "Good. I'm going to go check on your sister and make sure she hasn't done anything drastic—like throw herself into the pool. You stay here and keep yourself out of trouble."_

_The black fox simply leans against the thick trunk of the cherry tree while Dragon does as it said it would. Since no cry of dismay rises from that direction, he has to assume that Ivory's own shock is keeping her in a kind of paralysis. He'd go to her, if he could stand seeing his chosen mother fight for her life and their own. _

_Instead, he contemplates what he has learned about the magics performed today. Higurashi had cut his finger and Ivory's for the blood needed to complete the summoning spell. He'd also used strands of their hair, and a bit of the snake's own flesh to mark him as master and controller. _

_Then his mind turns to what Sun-Soul had said, before the five fragments had merged into one Self again. That for this to be over, the Dragon-Self could break a piece of itself, or he could die. Honestly, he could see which one he preferred, and which one would fulfil his blood-oath to Kou the Topaz Cat. _

_Now a cry of horror rises from the vicinity of the pool. But it isn't Dragon's, it's Ivory's. And Obsidian doesn't need to see the pool to know that the fight has just taken a turn for the worst. Bracing himself for what he's about to do, the black fox conjures a Japanese style dagger, takes a deep breath, and plunges it into his heart._

——

Aislin is losing. Despite the fact that she now matches Kin'iro-Ryu pound for massive pound, her body is still heavily injured from her earlier hits. And it's very hard to keep a grip on someone's throat when your lungs keep contracting away from the fires of broken ribs.

After a good five minutes of her impromptu wrestling match, the other dragon finally hurls her off into a breathless heap of tail and neck and wings. Bleeding from all the gashes she's given it, it approaches with that thousand-kettles whistle piercing her eardrums.

"Yeah, and your mother was a wyvern," she gasps in retort, then cries out in dismay as the last of her energy fails her, dissolving her back into her petite ice-fox form in a cloud of platinum dust. The whistling takes on an edge of pleasure, drowning out the frantic cries of her friends as she watches that graceful head coming down for her a second time…

Only to hear the meaty thud of flesh impacting on flesh. Turquoise eyes open to find massive coils of jeweled scales surrounding her. Familiar jeweled scales. It takes a moment for her to get her lungs to work again from their shrinking, but she manages to squeak out, "Thre…Threnody?"

"Little bird," comes the not-particularly-amused voice of the naga from somewhere beyond the protective coil, "did you really think that after all the time I spent waiting for a chance to swallow you down, I'd let an overgrown worm do it instead?"

"No," Aislin coughs. "'Magine not."

The dragon is confused. First furry-thing went to being not-furry-thing, then turned into a white-Self, then went back to being non-furry-thing. And just as smart self was going to eat not-furry-thing, big-scaly-thing showed up and tried to bite smart-self. What is going on?

Then the world is filled with electric blue light and the triumphant shout of Yusuke, as the sun-gold bubble shield around Higurashi goes POP! Or more accurately, goes boom in a most spectacular fashion! The snake demon scrambles back and off to the far side of the altar, leaving Yoko a clear shot for the twins.

And he takes it, swooping in and snatching up both young kits as if they weigh nothing—and to someone of his physical strength, they seem to. The Silver Thief has them all the way back to the others before a chilling fact breaks through the adrenaline-triggered rush. The substance dampening the back of his sleeveless shirt isn't sweat.

It's blood.

——

_Obsidian slumps against his tree, watching his blood puddle around him. He'd never noticed how red blood really is. It almost looks like a piece of fire. He manages to swallow a hysterical giggle at the thought it might start burning him any second. He wonders why he's still here and not on the Styx yet. Heart wounds are supposed to kill you instantly, right?_

_Footsteps herald the return of Dragon, and a strangled gasp of denial pinpoints when the Spirit sees him. In an instant hands are trying to staunch the blood, a foot kicking away the dagger he'd pulled out just after stabbing himself. He'd remembered how such wounds always bled more when the trauma-inducer—what a weird word, 'trauma'—wasn't in the way, and the faster he goes, the better._

_Dragon doesn't think so. "Oh, you foolish, foolish fox! Didn't I tell you not to die? Why? Why did you do this?"_

_He tries to respond in Japanese or even Common, but only a Latin phrase he'd read somewhere comes spilling out of his mouth. "Faber est quisque fortuna suae."_

_"But this wasn't needed! Don't go, Obsidian! Death isn't the answer!" By now Ivory has heard the distressed cries and comes running over, face going white at the horrifying vision before her: Obsidian, his black open-front shirt darkening with blood, a splash of crimson slicking its way down the bare skin to soak into his crimson belt, staining it deeper red. But instead of fear or pain, all she can read in his face is peace, and a curious kind of triumph._

_"Oh, Obsidian," she whispers, walking over to her brother with tears streaming down her face. "You're an idiot, you know that?" His head nods, voice stolen away. And even while Dragon tries vainly to staunch the wound, Ivory leans in close to murmur into her twin's ear. "I escaped the hold of Spirit World by using a doppleganger spell. You remember that one? Aislin taught it to us our first week as thieves. Try to come back to us soon, 'Dian. We'll miss you."_

_Blood-foamed lips curve into a beatific smile as a hand tries to rise enough to touch her cheek; she lifts it there herself, and remains in that position even when the soul of her twin brother incandesces…and is gone._

——

The only two people who don't know about the passing of Obsidian Avalon are Aislin and Threnody. The naga is busy fighting the dragon, and the ice-fox had passed out about two seconds after her erstwhile enemy had intervened.

Yoko desperately tries to staunch the heart-wound that has seemed to spring from nowhere, bloodying his hands to the elbows and trying to help Kohaku as she tries her best with her own healing skills. For a moment or two it seems to help, and then all of the breath slips out of the young fox's body, leaving it cool and still, a strange smile lingering on the pale lips.

The Silver Thief howls his grief to the crimson sky even as Threnody squawks in undignified startlement. For her opponent has broken away, and now regards her with sane, knowing eyes that had been filled only with rage a moment before. Giving her a courtly bow, Kin'iro-Ryu limps his way over to the mourning group, gashes and bites healing themselves with every step.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei look up at the beast in silent defiance, the fire apparition's face streaked with tears that fall to the ground as translucent indigo stones. "I am sorry, scion of the Avalons," the dragon says in a surprisingly melodic voice. "Never did I think that the trust I placed in your line could be twisted so awry by another force. I will mourn this brave child until the day that everything ends, for he was as dear to me as you are. Because this misdeed is created by me, all I can do in recompense is offer you myself. Call when you have need of me, scion of Avalon, and I will answer if I may."

Even as Yoko raises a tear-stained face to the one who had watched his line and through it the worlds, that golden, graceful muzzle is lowered to barely touch his forehead. When the dragon pulls away, a mark in gold gleams there for a brief moment, then fades out of sight. "My sigil, scion of Avalon, Yoko Kurama. Summon me through that." Then in a swirl of rock-dust, Kin'iro-Ryu is gone, presumably back down to his slumber in the depths of the Makai.

Meanwhile, Higurashi is doing his best to sneak away, the dragon statuette left forgotten by the altar. However, Threnody is not so caught up in grief, and she chooses not to let this scumbag escape so easily. "Now where would you be going, fellow serpent?" she inquires in a throaty purr, loosely coiling herself into a circle around him.

The snake demon gulps. "Oh, nowhere in particular."

"Oh," purrs Threnody, "but I beg to differ." Hiei can't help but smirk through his grief at the panicked scream that echoes across the plain, looking over in time to see a pair of scaly, silk-clad legs disappear down the gullet of a massive, wedge-shaped head. A breath later and the humanoid upper half makes a reappearance, the naga licking her fingers appreciatively. He hears through his Jagan her comment of, "Hm, he was tastier than he looked. All bloated with stolen powers. Yummy."

"Good riddance," Hiei mutters to himself, before turning to his comrades. "All right, Yusuke. Help me and Kohaku get everyone else home."

——

Obsidian makes his way through the press of souls gathered at the living-side bank of the Styx. He's looking for someone in particular…and spots him, leaning against one of the only trees on this bank. Smiling shyly, he edges over to Kou, who gives him a sad smile in return.

"So you made it, huh, kid?"

"Uh-huh."

Letting out a hard sigh, Kou the Topaz Cat rumples the renard's inky black hair before slinging an arm around his shoulders and leading him to the single boat waiting. "You know, kid, I kinda wish you hadn't done it."

The smile never slips. "Yeah, I know. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

——

Four months pass, and the affects of Obsidian's absence make themselves known clearer every day. Ivory, once more in her form of Zephyr, ends up giving 'Haru's' fanclub several doses of fuda magic before the harpies leave her alone, once the news of his death—disguised as a mugging gone very wrong—is spread. Very wise, since one more attack would have brought an appearance of Ivory and bloodshed.

Not even her best friend Eri can really cheer her up, though gods only knows the blond girl tries. She even convinces several of the school's hottest—and nicest—boys to ask the silver-haired girl out, but each one is turned down. She's not in any kind of mood to take care of a fragile, human teen male ego, and none of them compare to that sweet fox she'd met at Aislin's wedding, anyway.

To get everyone to leave her alone, she finally reveals that Haru was her long lost brother and that he'd come here looking for her. She doesn't give any other details than that, preferring to let others fill in the story however they want. The pitying looks are preferable to the gossips demanding to know if she'd slept with him or something.

Yoko, once again in his role of Shuichi, grieves publicly only as hard as a good friend and tutor should. But in the privacy of his home, his mother and step-family know that it is kinder to give him space and allow him to sit in his room, staring out the window, for hours on end.

Hiei, no longer being needed to catch Obsidian, goes back to his usual 'off-duty' pastimes: meditating in the Dark Forest, or training with a depressed Kohaku. Besides the one time of mourning while on the battle-field, the fire apparition lets no one know that the loss of the innocent cub has marked him deeply. That simply is not his way.

Suzume spends most of her time, when she doesn't manage to work up enough willpower to train with Genkai, with her family's cousins the Blade-arms now that her clan's enemy—who turned out to be Higurashi—is dead and no longer paying for assassins. Whenever Kohaku sees the pretty wolf, the amber eyes are red from crying, and she refuses to even speak of her first love. Genkai tells the glitter-Gothic wolf that time will change that, but it still hurts Kohaku to think about it.

Yusuke and Kuwabara mourn for a little while, because they liked Obsidian no matter what guise he was in, but they aren't affected so much and get their lives back to some semblance of normalcy rather quickly.

Aislin's been missing for the last three months. Even with Yukina working on her almost every day, it had still taken the ice-fox a month to recuperate from the abuse of her body and the depletion of her youki. But as soon as she'd been able to defend herself to her standards, she had disappeared without a word to anyone. Kurama, while worried, knows that few would dare to cross his beloved in her current state. Besides, she's either gone to the Lighthouse or the Lair, and if she hasn't, if he needs to locate her then he simply will go talk to Rei.

But the ice-fox has a different plan than to just sit around and weep.

——

"Aislin, I cannot allow it. I simply can't."

The ice apparition stands before Koenma's desk, her hands laced behind her and her face grim, lower belly just beginning to swell. She had just made a petition to the Reikai Prince, and he has declined it. It is with the use of sheer willpower that she keeps from fulfilling her oft-voiced promise to bring the complex castle down around the pro-tem ruler's ears.

In a perfectly reasonable, calm voice she tries once again to persuade him. "Koenma, despite the fact that we stood at opposite ends of justice—even now—I have considered you as something other than a potential ally. I have considered you a friend, and as a friend I beg of you: _please_."

"I can't. Beyond the fact that it would break every single rule ever created in dealing with souls, he's currently in Redemption; I don't have the authority to bring him out again until he's completed his sentence."

Exasperation, for a moment, lifts away the grief. "Koenma, he served almost a hundred years for deeds that only bring ten at most! He's _served_ his sentence ten times over already!"

"Aislin…"

"No! You're being pigheaded and unfair to the boy! He's served his damn sentence, he fulfilled the blood-oath he made to Kou, and he killed himself to save lives!"

"You aided and abetted a known criminal, Moors," Koenma snaps back. "One who came very close to destroying the Three Worlds. If it weren't for Threnody, we'd all be screwed. Give me one good reason that doesn't involve violence as to _why_ I should grant your request."

Aislin takes a deep breath, resting her hands on the desk's surface without even fogging the polish. "I have less than a month for you to slate him for my child. It will take almost that long for you to slog through the paperwork. But in all the time I have known you, have I ever even _once_ asked you for anything?"

Koenma considers, and reluctantly replies, "No. No, you haven't."

"That's right. Not even when you might have let me see Yoko, when I was serving my time in the Cottage. In the centuries I have known you, I have asked for nothing. Which should give you some fraction of an idea how much I want this. I didn't ask to see Yoko because I didn't want him to know that I'd given up, because if he'd somehow been reincarnated already, I didn't want to see that smile on a face that didn't know who he was. Because I wanted him to be happy." She backs up several feet, the tears sliding down her face to fall as cloudy blue gems, then drops to her knees. "Please, Koenma. For his sake, I beg you."

The teen-bodied prince surges to his feet when his supplicant bends forward, forehead resting on hands flat on the floor. "Aislin, don't!"

"Please, Prince Koenma. _Please._"

Bowing his own head in defeat, Koenma says a muffled, "All right. You win. I'll grant your request, but only for a price."

Aislin rises only so far as her knees, hope warring with her natural cynicism in those turquoise eyes. "Name your price, Koenma. Anything. I'll pay it."

A tired smile through the prince's hair, left too long without a haircut. It draws an echoing trace of a smile from his petitioner. "I never want to see you submitting to anyone ever again; not to me, not to _anyone_. In all the worlds, I can count on one hand the people who see me as someone besides a ruling power. You're one of them, and I want you to keeping on deflating my ego when Yusuke's not around to do it." He stretches out his hand to the woman kneeling on his floor. "Deal?"

The smile becomes brilliant, reflecting off unshed tears as she rises to her feet to clasp that proffered hand. "Deal."


	24. Chapter 23: A New Life

Ten months after Aislin vanished off to only gods-know-where, the other members of Team Urameshi gather at the Hatakana-Minamino home in a gesture of solidarity, because although the human-bodied fox has been holding up relatively well, he's beginning to show signs of strain. The children he helped conceive are to be born sometime this month, and he still has no idea where Aislin is. His cousin Rei, damn the woman, is keeping her mouth shut about his mate's whereabouts, as well.

And still no sign of Aislin.

"Be patient a little longer, cousin," soothes Rei from her shared seat with Hiei at the windowsill. Everyone has gathered in the living room, the focal point being the chair in which an ill-kempt Kurama huddles, his laced fingers pressed to his chin. The rest of Kurama's family have wisely chosen to be absent, their own efforts to comfort their grieving changeling having failed. "She will return soon."

"You've been saying that for almost a year now," accuses Kurama in a lifeless voice. "Give me proof, not words."

"I've been using time as a youkai reckons it, cousin. Adjust your thinking."

"We're demons, fox," Hiei growls from the windowsill, worn from worry and sorrow and overwork thanks to Koenma. "_You're_ supposed to be the one with patience. We have decades pass like a year. Act like it."

"Piss off, Hiei."

The fire apparition draws his dignity around him along with his cloak and rises, heading towards the door while letting his words bite acid-deep. "I'll take that as your senseless anxiety talking and let it slide. Expect a thorough beating when the snowflake does return." And he's out the door in a swirl of dark vibes and black fabric.

Kohaku looks between the two, visibly torn as to whether she should stay and see if she can get Kurama to cheer up a bit or if she should go after Hiei before he hurts something. Or someone, like he did that moronic thug that tried to rob him the other day. Then again, maybe she _should_ stay here. The street-rats have been getting thick lately.

"Come on, Kurama!" Yusuke tries joviality, smacking Kurama on the shoulder. "You know Aislin's pulled stunts like this before! Remember what happened after she sparred with me that first time? We spent a whole year waiting for our move, right? What makes this any different?"

All the Detective gets is a very canine growl uttered from behind laced fingers, golden eyes glaring at him from beneath silver-streaked crimson bangs. Hands raised in a conciliatory gesture, Yusuke backs off, grinning weakly. Kuwabara snorts at his best friend in derision from the far end of the couch.

"Don't be such an ass, Urameshi. If it was Keiko you'd be just as worried."

"That's cause Keiko can't take care of herself the way Aislin can!" Yusuke shouts back, the tension in the room finally getting to him. That sparks the inevitable shouting match that Yusuke and Kuwabara apparently must have every time they get together for periods longer than two minutes, that must be done at the tops of their spacious lungs.

Kurama just hunches further in his chair the longer the fight goes on, getting more and more visibly upset as the two young men show no sign of stopping anytime soon. He's just about ready to get up and trounce the both of them when Kohaku speaks up in a wondering tone from her perch on the couch-end by the window.

"Look, it's snowing."

Yusuke and Kuwabara freeze, all three males staring at the fat, fluffy white flakes drifting by the glass panes in total silence. Kurama is the next one to speak. "So it is."

"But it's the middle of June!" Yusuke protests, going to the door and opening it. Hiei is standing in the middle of the lawn, wide eyes watching the snowflakes fall from a pewter-grey sky, oblivious to the white that's beginning to cake on his shoulders and in his hair.

Kohaku lets out a jubilant whoop and runs outside, glomping onto Hiei before spinning around with her arms flung wide. "You know what this means, right?" she calls to the two young men still standing dumbfounded in the doorway.

Dull emerald eyes begin to sparkle; lank scarlet hair begins to fluff. Kurama and Kohaku smile at each other and shout in unison: "Aislin's back!"

From within the house a pleased, "Told you so."

——

"Yes, Aislin is back," Masaya Ichigaki, the Earth Aspect of the Elemental Quartet, confirms when the Team reaches the gates of the Reikai Palace. While everyone else stops, Kurama simply breezes on by, following his nose into the depths of the building. Rei, for her own convenience, had used her quartet's special 'snap-out' technique to automatically teleport herself to the Palace and is already inside. "But you can't see her yet, I'm afraid."

"Why not?" demands Yusuke and Kuwabara in unison.

Masaya lifts a hand, ticking off reasons on his muscled fingers. "One, you're not her mate. Two, she's tired from traveling. Three, because she's volatile, and four, she's volatile because she's in labor."

Even Koenma looks up from his paperwork at the ecstatic cheer that shakes the very foundation of Reikai Palace. "It's about time they got here," he mutters, going back to work.

A day later, the enthusiasm has ebbed into impatient waiting. Hiei has literally worn a path into the thick carpet lining the floor of the Spirit Detective suite, the place that the Team stays during emergencies, merely from his constant pacing. After hearing the good news, no one could bear going back to Ningenkai, so what's left of the group has decided to remain here for it to be over.

Yusuke has taken over one end of a matched pair of couches, sprawling as much as he only gets to when Atsuko doesn't have friends over at the Urameshi apartment. "Damn, I had no idea givin' birth takes this long. Kurama must be goin' nuts."

From one of the armchairs emerges a distracted, "He's helping with the delivery. He doesn't have time to go nuts." Curled there is Kalerian Sohma (no, not one of THOSE Sohma), his bishie nose buried in an old leatherbound book, the title in kanji so old that no one who cares to read it, can. Hiei could, but he's more interested in pacing. The undeniably-bishounen young man is the Water Aspect of the Elemental Quartet, Rei's direct counterpart and her best friend. He's been in here since before the others arrived, filling the room with his special brand of telepathic calm. It's gotten everyone except Hiei to be impatient rather than ready-to-bolt, and the only reason Hiei's immune is because he has his shields up too tight.

"So why aren't we allowed in there again?" Kuwabara asks from the other end of the couch, a handheld video game taking up little of his attention.

Kalerian sighs, closing summer-sky orbs and leaning back until his head is cushioned on his long, green-blue hair. "Because," he repeats calmly for the hundredth or so time, "to give birth a youkai must be in their true form. The only people who've already seen said true form are Kurama and Hiei, one of which is too nervous to help and the other is already helping. Yukina, Kaze, Koudo and Kasai—Kohaku Kudo, Masaya, and Rei to you, I guess—are Healers, so their presence is required, but unless Aislin asks for the rest of us, we are sooo not allowed in there."

"Che," Yusuke grumbles to himself. "You'd think we'd have earned that kind of trust by now."

A wicked grin lights up Kalerian's face. "Also, you'd be pretty much useless as a midwife, so Rei told me to keep you guys out from underfoot."

"What about me?" protests Kohaku from the windowsill, occupying Hiei's usual seat since he's still walking in circles. "I'm a Healer, too! And I've helped out with births at my family lairs. How come I'm not allowed in?"

A thumb gets jerked towards the pacing kajihenge. "_I_ wanted you here to make sure Hiei doesn't set something on fire."

"Oh."

"All right," Rei says tiredly, walking into the room while drying her hands on a towel. The Team practically stands to attention—Hiei actually does—intent on every word that comes out of the red-head's mouth. "Good news and better news. Good news is, is that Kurama survived delivery."

"Better news?" This is from Kohaku, her glitter-dusted ears lifting in curiosity. Rei just smiles at everyone.

"Aislin wants to see you."

——

A few minutes later everyone has gathered outside the door to Aislin's hospital room, where Masaya and the Wind Aspect Kohaku Kudo stand as impromptu guards. The susurrus of voices alerts Yukina to their presence, and she slips out of the room in silence. Then she turns to face her friends with a broad smile and some last minute instructions. "Please remember that for Aislin-san to show you her true form is a sign of deep trust, so a misword from anyone will likely earn you a quick death from her mate," she says, only half joking. "Also, please remember that Aislin has been gone a while and has just had a long delivery, so voices down."

Everyone but Hiei nods, the fire apparition standing to one side to wait his turn. In his own gesture of respect Yusuke snags the slightly-shorter male by the shoulder and pushes him toward the door. "G'wan, Hiei. You get the honors of goin' in first."

Giving Yusuke one of his rare smiles, Hiei slips into the room on cat-quiet feet. The rest of the Team waits a minute or two with surprising tact before beginning their own visits.

Inside is a scene of utter tranquility: Aislin sits in a rocking chair by the window in one of her favorite wool dressing gowns, her hair translucent, snowy white with streaks of wine, peacock blue and emerald laced with gold by her ears, which are now sharply pointed like an elf's. A sapphire Jagan is half-opened on her forehead where her teardrop demon mark used to be; the peacock-blue color now traces rounded, stylized lightning bolts down each cheek, two dots on either side of the second of three jags.

A small pair of wings, scaled and feathered in pale blues, grays, and pure white, lay folded against her back between the rungs of the rocker. Nine tails also drift around her hips and between the rungs, tipped in the faintest of grays. Two furry, fox-like feet peep out the bottom of the dressing gown, black claws the only color on the pale cream fur. The feet match the rounded ears sitting on top of Aislin's head, the creamy white softness of an Arctic fox.

Kurama stands beside her, an infatuated grin on his face, both of them looking down at the single bundle of blanket cradled in Aislin's arms. Hiei is already beside his friends, standing with his legs pressed against Aislin's as he leans over to see, hands resting on the carved wooden arms of the rocker. A silly smile makes his crimson eyes glow softly in delight, and he shares proud looks with his dearest friends.

"Come on over and see our son," Kurama says in an undertone, looking over at the three still hanging about by the door—Rei and the other Elementals are tactfully staying outside, allowing Aislin's friends some degree of privacy, while Yukina goes to call Genkai with the good news. "Promise, we won't bite."

"Neither will this little angel," Aislin chuckles softly, brushing the backs of her fingers against her baby's cheek. "At least until he gets some teeth." Kohaku works up the nerve first, going over and giving her friend a gentle hug.

"Missed you," the wolf says quietly, before looking down. She can feel her face light up in the same silly grin that Hiei is wearing, because the baby is just that cute. Apparently her expression encourages the boys, because they come over with congratulations and hugs, and coos for the baby in Aislin's embrace.

"You look gorgeous, Aislin," Yusuke comments, lightly tweaking one furry ear. "No wonder you pretend to be human most of the time: you'd be beating the guys off with a bazooka if you walked around like this." Aislin bats his teasing hand away with a laugh at the same time Kurama comments that any beatings would likely be delivered by him, not his wife, because Aislin is all his.

"Well, mine and the baby's," he amends, emerald eyes glowing as he delicately touches the black-and-silver tuft of hair sprouting between the silken, folded ebony ears. A moment or two later there comes a soft knock at the door, Ivory peering around it with her hand held over her eyes.

"I heard the good news but couldn't get away from Mom any faster. Can I look?"

"Of course, chibi-Yoko," Aislin murmurs, and the silver vixen takes her hand away, lighting up at the sight of the ice-fox.

"Oh, wow, Aislin-sama, you look fantastic!" she enthuses quietly, coming over with a big stuffed teddy-bear in her arms. "I brought this for the baby, I hope you don't mind. I asked the maker to put one of my protection fuda in it as an added precaution." The toy is as big as her torso, which means it's actually bigger than the newborn, with thick, plush brown fur and large, dreamy black eyes set in a sweet face. Kohaku's eyes light up; we can see that Ivory is going to be asked where she got the bear later once visiting hours are over.

Kurama and Aislin share a chuckle, the renard giving his adopted daughter/biological niece a grin. "Why would we mind?" he inquires in a merry undertone. "I had one like that when I was little and adored it. Every child should have some soft toy as big as they are at some point in their youth. And the fuda was a marvelous idea." Ivory beams at her role model, giving the fuzzy bear a squeeze and making the tiny bells attached to the big neck-bow chime faintly.

The sound wakes the baby, who opens big blue eyes already turning gold and gurgles, waving chubby fists at everyone with a broad smile. Kohaku smiles back at the tiny cub, Hiei's fingertip grasped in one fragile hand to the sound of more happy gurgles. "I didn't think babies could smile the day they're born. Even youkai babies. The wolf babies I've helped birth usually just sit there and blink at you for a few days before they start getting personalities."

"This little one has a lot of joy in him," Aislin says softly, tickling her son under the chin and winning an even bigger smile from him. "He can't wait even a few days to share it."

Koenma proves to be the next, brief visitor, the brightly-wrapped present he brings turning out to be one of the most useful items in babyhood: a pacifier. A purple one, to be exact, flavored and scented like a basket of fruit. Tiny hands are reaching for it with a delighted burble the second Kurama dangles it over his son's head, and contented sucking sounds are soon being made. Since the prince had walked in in time to hear Aislin's explanation, he offers one of his own. "Since he probably wasn't expecting another turn in the worlds of the living so soon, I'd say with what little he likely remembers he's happy just to be with the people he cares about again." And with a brotherly kiss to the ice-fox's cheek (graciously allowed) Koenma returns to his duties with one last warm smile sent over his shoulder.

Ivory grins down at the baby, familiar mischief beginning to sparkle in her eyes. "So you're his real mother now, Aislin-sama? I'd say I'm a bit envious but you've been our mother since the day we walked into the Lair. And I've got my human mom, too, so I can't complain." And she tickles the bottom of one tiny foot.

The baby bounces in Aislin's arms, gurgling more to let the silver vixen know that that really tickles! Another knock on the door heralds Yukina's return, the ice maiden smiling at some interesting news. "Aislin? There's someone here who wants to see the baby. May I let him in?"

"Who is it, Yukina?"

"Believe it or not, Aislin, it's Kou-san." It only takes a moment before a startled Aislin regathers her composure in order to nod, the muscular lion youkai slipping in as soon as Yukina relays his clearance. A relieved smile softens battle-hardened features into someone incredibly handsome as he gives his congratulations to the new parents, and shakes his head over the baby.

"Kid, you really do have some crazy luck," he whispers, burble-laughter the baby's response to a familiar, trusted face. "Glad to see you back on this side of the Styx." He delicately ruffles the tuft of silver-streaked black (or is it black-streaked silver?) with one finger, said finger quickly getting grabbed and waved around by a chubby hand. The smile turns warmer; another heart-melted conquest. "Hey, Aislin-san, if you ever need a babysitter for this one once he's older, if I'm still around then, look me up?"

"You'll have to take a number, Kou-san," Aislin replies with a wink and a nod at the others, "but I'll keep it in mind. Thank you."

"Nah, thank _you._ Broke my heart escorting him over the river." And, handing a grinning Kurama a new baby blanket made of warm polar fleece, decorated with a picture of a chibi fox, Kou heads back to work.

But it's Hiei that asks the question everyone wants answered, as he gazes fondly down at his godson. "Well, Kikan-chan? What have you named him?"

A conspiratorial smile is shared between husband and wife before the ice-fox replies, "We decided to name him Obsidian Eclipse Minamino."

Kurama chuckles. "But we'll keep to Eclipse, for short."

Obsidian Eclipse Minamino—Eclipse for short—lets out a chortle that reminds everyone that they're supposed to be paying attention to _him_, and having done so, goes back to sucking on his fruit-flavored pacifier, content with his world and the increasingly cohesive thoughts going through his new little head.

He protected everyone he loves, and they're here around him, or most of them, anyway. He'll have to wait until Kohaku can get Suzume to come, so he can make her smile again. And thanks to his sister's secret, he was able to play the biggest trick yet on Koenma.

He wasn't the one to get his memories wiped by Shikyo. That was his doppleganger. So he doesn't just remember a few things.

He remembers _everything._

——

END


End file.
